Powerless Guardian
by Boba Addict
Summary: A monster who feeds on immortality appears, and Jack becomes his unfortunate victim. Now Jack, with all his immortality gone, is forced to live a drama-filled life as a normal 18-year-old boy named Jack Overland, all the while trying to find a way to become Jack Frost once again. Cover art by MaddieSeth on deviantArt.
1. In Which Jack Wakes Up

**For those of you that clicked on this story because I self-advertised in Fate, welcome to Powerless Guardian! There isn't much to say, so feel free to read on.**

**Disclaimer: Seriously, it's annoying putting this on every chapter of every fanfic that I write. But anyway, I don't own Rise of the Guardians, the concept of Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, the Sandman, or Jack Frost. Too bad I don't own that last one.**

_Every intake of breath was painful. He thought immortals weren't capable of being injured, but now, it was clearly proven to him that they were. Due to his pained gasps, it didn't take a genius to figure out that there was some sort of injury near his diaphragm. His hoodie was stained with blood that was gushing out from his side, and his ankle was broken and twisted at a wrong angle. He had a blow to the head, and blood had seeped down his eye and to his chin, dripping on to the cold, dull ground. It took all his strength not to pass out right then and there._

_His opponent was standing nearby, as if to leer and jeer at him, "I've won. You've lost." It was slowly coming closer to him, readying itself to finish off the last ounce of consciousness his losing enemy had. It edged even closer, and the badly injured, young man just managed to look up at it; despite his exhaustion, his eyes defiantly dared the monster to be the first being ever to kill off a Guardian._

_The monster's gooey hand stretched out slowly, and wrapped it around the boy's throat. The boy fought the urge to thrash and kick, choosing to accept his bitter end. He felt his immortal power leaving him, and closed his eyes, unwilling to see those deadly black spots dot his vision. He could feel himself growing dizzy from lack of air, but he didn't really care anymore. All he cared about that instant was that his friends were safe, and he was fiercely glad that he was the one who was about to die. To him, dying didn't seem so bad as long as he did his best._

_The monster's grip was tightening more and more until it heard the ring of sleigh bells. It stopped what it was doing and glanced up, just in time for two boomerangs to smack it right in what was supposed to be the head. The monster gave a venomous hiss, and was about to leap up and attack the thrower of the boomerangs, but two whips made out of golden sand lashed out and struck it mercilessly. The monster, realizing its defeat, slinked away, admitting the Guardians' victory until their next battle._

_The boy who fell victim to the monster did not know what just happened. Suppose if he was sober enough, he would've recognized the boomerangs and the whips in a heartbeat. However, he was quickly losing his battle with unconsciousness, no matter how much he fought, and he felt two strong arms wrap around him and lift him up bridal style. _

_"It's gonna come back..." the boy slurred to his savior or saviors, not sure if there was just one or if there were many. "Just leave me here..."_

_He knew that they weren't going to listen though, and he was right. He doubted if they could even hear his mumbling. His savior(s) must have realized that he wasn't giving into sleep just yet, because the next thing he knew, golden sand drifted itself on to his face and he fell into a deep slumber..._

Jack woke with a start, his eyes shooting wide open. His breathing was short, and he struggled to calm himself down. He was sweating profusely, and he almost laughed – when was the last time he felt this overheated? Being a winter spirit, he naturally had no indication of feeling anything except for coldness.

He looked around the room, taking in his surroundings. He was lying on a bed in a bedroom in North's workshop; it wasn't a particularly big room, but at least it exceeded his standards for comfort.

Phil the yeti suddenly opened the door and walked in, carrying a wet towel, which Jack presumed was to be put on his forehead. "Hey, Phil," he managed to croak out, hating how he sounded like a frog with a dry throat.

Phil, finally noticing that Jack was conscious, dropped the towel and started garbling his yeti language loudly. He hurried out the door, and a few minutes later, he came back, still exclaiming gibberish, with North, Bunnymund, Tooth, and Sandy.

Tooth was the first to react. She zipped over to Jack and locked him in an embrace so tight that Jack felt as if she were choking him. She pulled back with a huge, relieved smile on her face, her feathers fluffing up in her excitement. "Jack! You're finally awake! How do you feel?"

"You want the truth? Like crap," Jack replied, his voice no better than before. He glared at his fellow Guardians, as they seemed to be quite amused at his vocal predicament. "Okay, so I sound like a dying cow, but don't you guys dare laugh."

"We are not laughing," North insisted, a ghost of a smile playing on those lips behind that bushy beard. "We have your hoodie, so put it on." He tossed Jack his blue hoodie, now as good as new. "All bloodstains needed to be washed twice with bleach."

Jack looked down at his bare chest, noticing only then that he didn't have some sort of shirt on. "Uh, thanks. How long was I out?" he asked, slipping on his article of clothing.

"Two weeks, mate," Bunnymund spoke up bluntly.

Jack sputtered in shock. "Two weeks?! TWO WEEKS?! What kind of immortal gets knocked out cold for two weeks?!" Realizing that he was having a spaz attack, he took a deep breath before he let himself get out of hand. "Sorry. Anything else?"

This question seemed to put the rest of the Guardians on edge. Tooth suddenly found her tiny feet much more interesting than before, Bunnymund glared out the small window above the bed, Sandy simply avoided eye contact, and North nervously turned to Phil, who was still in the room. "Phil... Prepare some water for him."

Phil nodded without hesitation, since he had sensed the atmosphere suddenly grow very awkward. He shuffled out of the room, his footsteps being the only noise disrupting the silence that lingered in the air.

Jack knew that the others were hiding something, but seeing how they appeared so reluctant to tell him the problem, he wasn't sure if he wanted to know. Nevertheless, he asked, "Hey... Is there...something you guys are hiding from me?"

North held up a hand, motioning Jack to not press any further. "There is. But it is rather...shocking." The other three nodded in agreement.

Jack was taken aback at how they came right out and said it, having expected them to try and deny it as best as they could. "O-Okay..." he said, growing increasingly skeptical, but forced himself to ask the ultimate question, gulping down the lump that had formed in his throat, "What is it?"

Sandy tried to conjure up many sand images to let Jack catch on to the news they were trying to break to him, but it only escalated the poor boy's confusion.

"Jack... You know the monster you fought?" Tooth started what was going to be a long explanation.

Jack's heart pounded faster in his chest as he looked down at where his injuries were supposed to be. His immortal power had allowed them to quickly and completely heal some time during his two-week-long coma. "I had a nightmare about what happened right before I woke up; of course I know."

"Do you know who that monster was?"

Jack hesitated. Did he know? He knew the thing was a powerful monster made out of some sort of gooey substance that could take shape of anything at sheer will. But did he know who the monster's purpose in this universe was? Did he know why it attacked him? "No," was his final answer.

"That was the monster that feeds on immortals," Bunnymund explained to him. "It lives on our power by taking it all away from us."

"Jack, when it was trying to strangle you, it was actually sucking out all your immortality. It is good thing that we arrived when we did, because if it did not let go of you, you would have died," North finished.

Jack simply stared, trying to comprehend what his friends were implying. "So does that mean..."

Sandy confirmed his fears by nodding, with no sand image flying above his head this time.

Jack looked down at the floor. He could already feel the tears threatening to spill from his eyes. _I'm turning mortal. I'm turning human again._

**Uh... I don't like how I ended this, but I guess this will have to do. So anyway, I would like it if you guys check out my other story Fate, and please review! It'd be nice to have at least one review by the time I upload the second chapter.**


	2. In Which Jack Likes Twilight

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians.**

Walking home after a long day at school, Jamie sighed as he caught sight of his house. He couldn't wait for winter break to begin next week. He couldn't wait to finally have 3 weeks free from homework and education. He couldn't wait to see that beautiful snow rain down on all of Burgess so he could have snowball fights with his friends.

The thought of snow made Jamie smile to himself. If snow came, then that meant that he could be able to see Jack once again. It had been 2 whole months since Jamie last saw him, the latter saying that he had an "important Guardian duty" to fulfill. He didn't specify on what was exactly the problem, but Jamie knew perfectly well that he meant to spread winter throughout the entire world. Jamie's smile dissipated and was quickly replaced by a frown. Jack should've been back to Burgess weeks ago, so he wondered what was taking him so long. How hard should it be for a winter spirit to make snow fall in a country, no matter how big?

Jamie stopped walking, realizing that he had already passed his house. He went back, went up to the front steps, and opened the front door. From the kitchen, his mom smiled at him.

"How was school?"

"Okay, I guess, except that Mrs. White gave all of us a book report that's due on the first day after winter break. You know, on that Charles Dickens book, A Christmas Carol." He sighed. "I swear, I thought I had to wait till high school to start writing these things."

His mom simply chuckled. "Well, why don't you go start on it? I'll be upstairs in a few minutes to bring you a snack."

Jamie nodded and went upstairs. He opened his bedroom door...

...And found a bored-looking, brown-haired teenage boy sitting cross-legged on his bed.

The older boy looked up from playing with the bedsheets to Jamie and gave him a small smile. "Hey, Jamie."

"...Hey...Jack..." Jamie greeted back tentatively, finally deciding that this other boy was indeed the winter spirit. He had on the same hoodie, same pants, same lack of shoes. The only thing different about him was his hair and eyes, both now a rich, chocolate brown. And Jamie swore his skin looked a lot less pale now. "What are you doing here? And...what's with your hair...? And the eyes...?"

Jack lost his smile and sighed. After he had woken up, he still had his immortal appearance. However, after a few days of wandering around North's workshop had passed, his hair and eyes began to turn back to their original color. "I was making the temperature below zero in Russia until this gooey monster thing attacked me. And then I turned human." Seeing Jamie's confused look, he added, "I'll give you the complete version once you're done with your homework and stuff."

Jamie nodded slowly. "Okay... I still don't get why you're in my room though."

"That monster is still out to get me, since the other Guardians had come to save me in time. So North decided that it was best to not stay in his workshop, since naturally, the monster would think to look for me there. And I can't risk being out in the open, so I have to stay in a house. And I chose yours."

Jamie, finally recovering from his shock, exclaimed happily, "That's- That's great! You're gonna be like the big brother I never had – not that I didn't already view you as a big brother before – and you can go take me out to pizza places and stuff! This is gonna be _awesome_!"

"Jamie?" came a voice from outside the closed bedroom door.

Jamie froze. He whisper-yelled to Jack, "Oh man, I totally forgot about my mom! She's here to give me a snack! And you're not invisible anymore, are you?! Quick, hide in the closet!" He quickly pulled Jack off of his bed and pushed him toward the closet door.

"Hey! Wait-" Jack tried to protest.

"Jamie?" came Jamie's mom's voice again.

"I'm coming, Mom!" Jamie yelled, and then he commanded quietly to Jack, "Just hide!" He finally managed to open the closet door and shove Jack into the small space.

He opened the door leading out to the upstairs hallway, and saw his mom holding a plate full of chocolate chip cookies. "Hey, Mom!" he chuckled nervously.

Mrs. Bennett looked around, confused. "That's odd... Where's Jack? I told him to wait for you in your room... I even prepared a few more cookies than usual just in case he wanted some. Is he using the restroom?"

"What?" Jamie asked, surprised.

The closet door opened and Jack casually strolled out. "Sorry, Mrs. Bennett. Your son thought that I sneaked in here through the window or something, so he hid me in the closet."

Jamie glared at him, giving him a _'Did-you-really-have-to-tell-her-that?' _look.

Mrs. Bennett looked amused. "Oh, Jamie. Jack rang the doorbell around noon today and told me that he was moving here, but his parents haven't signed the papers to officially buy the house yet. They convinced him to move here first, wanting him to adjust to the neighborhood, mistakenly thinking that there was a hotel nearby. Jack said that when he came here this morning, he had no choice but to find a local resident's home and temporarily stay there."

"And obviously, I chose this house," Jack finished for her.

Jamie blinked. "Oh... Well, okay." He turned to Jack. "I hope you enjoy this place... I guess."

Mrs. Bennett set the cookies down on Jamie's desk. "Jack, how long will you be staying for?"

"I dunno. Our stupid, cruddy landlord hasn't said anything about it," Jack replied in such a deadpan tone of voice, that Jamie felt the temptation to laugh.

"We'll, you can stay for as long as you'd like. You and Jamie can get to know each other during your stay," Mrs. Bennett smiled. "I have to go pick up Sophie, Jamie's little sister, from daycare now, and I'm also going to the supermarket. I'll be back soon, so would you mind watching Jamie, Jack?"

Jack gave her a playful salute. "In this household, I babysit for free."

Once she left and was far from hearing range, Jack turned to Jamie. "Your mom's really nice; I like her."

Jamie shrugged. "Eh, she's alright. By the way, where'd you come up with that crazy lie about you and a new house?"

Jack shrugged. "Around 3 months ago, I saw this house for sale that's just down the street. On the contrary, I went in and it really was a pretty nice house, so I have no idea why the people who used to live there moved out," he added, before continuing, "I saw it again today, and that 'For Sale' sign was still there, so just in case your mom wants to know which house I 'want to move into,' I won't end up getting caught red-handed."

Jamie nodded. "Smart."

"Yeah. So, uh, I'll leave you alone so you could do whatever homework you have. If you need me, I'll be downstairs, watching TV."

* * *

"I'm done with my homework now, and – What the _fudge _are you watching?"

Jack, his eyes still focused on the TV screen, just replied, "I don't know, it's about this girl and an ugly, creepy vampire or something like that? For some reason, I can't change the channel; this just came on when I turned on the TV. And I have nothing better to do, so I'm keeping on watching this. It's weird, and the love is cheesy, but it's strangely enticing all at the same time."

"Jack, you're watching the first movie of Twilight. My mom's a Twilight Saga nut, so she must've been watching it late at night yesterday and forgot to take the disc out of the DVD player."

"Oh. Okay."

"...Do you want me to turn that off for you, so you could watch something else?"

"Uh, sure, later, once I find out what's gonna happen to Bella. I'm at the part where James tricks her and lures her into a trap."

Jamie groaned.

The front door opened after a few minutes and Mrs. Bennett walked in, carrying Sophie and groceries in her arms. "I'm back! Jamie, I thought you had a book report?" she asked once she saw her son sitting with Jack in the living room.

"Mom, my book report isn't due for another 3 weeks. I got the introductory paragraph covered already though," Jamie said. "By the way, you got Jack obsessed with Twilight."

"Oh, right, I forgot to take the disc out of the DVD player. Silly me," Mrs. Bennett laughed. "Well, at least Jack's satisfied with the movie, aren't you, Jack?"

"I'm busy watching Edward save Bella right now, so don't talk to me," Jack replied, his eyes still glued to the screen.

Jamie's mom shook her head in amusement. "Jamie, once he's done watching, ask him what he would like for dinner. We'll let him choose since it's his first day here."

With that said, she left the room and went into the kitchen.

Jamie, having had more than enough Twilight for the day (and for the rest of his life), grabbed the remote on the coffee table, and pressed the pause button. "What would you like for dinner?" he asked Jack.

Jack looked at Jamie as if he just ripped his heart out of his body for a few seconds and then snatched the remote back from the younger boy. "Either fried chicken or a corndog," he said irritatedly, before pressing the play button again.

* * *

"So, Jack, are you transferring to Burgess High?"

Jack looked up from his chicken leg to Mrs. Bennett, with a taken aback expression etched on to his face. "W-What?"

"You said you were 18, so aren't you a senior in high school?"

"Um... Yeah..." Saying that Jack was starting to feel uncomfortable would be a major understatement.

Mrs. Bennett laughed. "Silly Jack, you didn't really think that you're going to miss out on school just because you moved to Burgess, did you? You still have an education that you need to complete."

Jack turned to look at Jamie for help, but the younger boy just shot him a knowing look.

"I'll enroll you into your new school, other than waiting for your parents to do it," Jamie's mother continued. "And you and Jamie could walk to school together, since his school is right across the street from the high school. But since winter break is about to start, I suppose it would be best if you only started going after those 3 weeks of no school."

The more Mrs. Bennett talked about school, the more Jack slumped down into his seat. _School?_ Yup, becoming human was going to be worse than he imagined.

**...I REALLY couldn't resist making Jack a Twilight fan, so don't judge me.**

**So yeah, Jack's going to school. _This is gonna be fun..._ -insert evil laugh here-**

**By the way, I have absolutely no idea how that whole "buy new house and go to new school" stuff works, since my family and I never moved anywhere before. I just did my best to wildly guess on Jack's so-called predicament in this chapter.**

**Shout out to Aidorable: Do you get how I thought up the scene where Jamie pushes Jack into his closet? ;D**

**Review! Pretty please with a million Jack Frost plushies on top?**


	3. In Which Jack Babysits

**Okay, so only two chapters into this story, and my plan on alternating updates between Fate and Powerless Guardian has been crushed and destroyed into the ground. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians.**

Jamie went into the kitchen in his pajamas, yawning, his hair an absolute mess. He was greeted by the sight of Jack sitting at the dining table, eating breakfast.

"Morning," Jack greeted, his mouth full of cereal.

"Morning," Jamie mumbled, sitting down next to him. He looked at Jack's attire, which was simply his usual outfit and a pair of slippers. "Did you seriously sleep in that?"

Jack looked down at his clothes and then looked back up. "Yeah," he said slowly, confused at what Jamie was getting at.

Jamie sighed. "You seriously need clothes other than that hoodie of yours, and your pants look like they're 300 something years old. Plus an official pair of pajamas."

"Excuse me for not having a chance to be able to go to the store," Jack retorted flatly. "And newsflash, Jamie, my pants _are _300 something years old."

"Exactly my point," Jamie shrugged. "You're human now, so it shouldn't be a problem to go buy stuff yourself.

"Where's my mom?" he suddenly asked.

"Taking Sophie to daycare. She'll be back any minute."

"Wow, she's been leaving me alone in the house lately, now that you're here to watch over me," Jamie observed.

"And therefore, it's my duty to inform you that you have school today, so get ready, will ya? It's like, what, 7:45, and doesn't school start at 8?" Jack smirked at Jamie's expression.

"Oh, man! How could I have forgotten about school?!" Jamie ran upstairs and Jack heard a lot of scuffling from downstairs.

"That just proves that you can't handle being on your own," Jack muttered under his breath, rather amused.

Ten minutes later, Jamie came running back down, all showered and dressed, ready for school. He hurriedly grabbed a piece of bread from the bread basket in the kitchen, gave a quick wave to Jack, and rushed out the door, saying under his breath, "If I run, I might make it in time..."

Jack chuckled gleefully to himself and continued eating his breakfast. A few minutes later, Mrs. Bennett came in through the front door with another woman, carrying a small baby girl and on her phone, tagging along behind her. The woman had a worried look on her face as she spoke.

"Really? Has it really become that urgent? I understand, I'll be right over."

Once she hung up, Mrs. Bennett looked at her, concerned. "Martha, what's wrong?"

"I just got a sudden call from the hospital. Oh, Jane, what am I going to do? My mother just got dreadfully sick of pneumonia, and I have to go visit her."

Mrs. Bennett grew even more worried for her friend. "You should go now. I'll watch little Melissa for you."

The other woman looked down at her baby daughter. "I'll be okay taking her with me to the hospital. I wouldn't want to trouble you too much."

"Nonsense," Mrs. Bennett laughed. "I'm already housing an 18-year-old for the time being."

"Yeah, looking after a toddler for a couple hours would totally be cool by me," Jack, who had approached them after hearing the front door open, piped up.

Mrs. Bennett only then seemed to take notice of his presence. "Oh! Jack, this is Mrs. Lee from the next block over. She has a daughter who goes to Burgess High as a sophomore. Martha, this is Jack, that 18-year-old I mentioned."

Jack nodded. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Lee."

The truth was, Jack already knew Martha Lee from wandering around the streets of Burgess as an immortal spirit, but there was no need for anybody to know that.

Mrs. Lee smiled at him. "It's nice to meet you too, dear." Then she turned to Mrs. Bennett, "He's quite adorable. Anyway, I have to leave now." She set Melissa down. "I hope it really isn't a big problem for you to watch her."

Mrs. Bennett shook her head. "Not at all."

"I don't know how long I'll be staying at the hospital, so I'll call my daughter, Christine, and tell her that her sister is here at your place. She'll pick her up after she's done with school today."

With that said, she left.

Mrs. Bennett turned to Jack. "I can trust you to be alone with Melissa for a few hours, can I?"

Jack shrugged. "I dunno, you trusted me with Jamie, so I guess you can." His lips twitched into a smirk at the reminder of Jamie forgetting to go to school. He wondered if the eleven-year-old actually made it to class on time or got busted by the teacher.

"Good, because I have a doctor's appointment I have to attend."

Jack raised one eyebrow. "And you didn't say anything about that before why...?"

Mrs. Bennett just flashed a knowing grin and left once more.

Jack sighed and looked down at baby Melissa, who was staring right back up at him with huge, innocent, brown eyes. He crouched down to her. "You be good for me before your older sister comes by to pick you up, alright?"

* * *

Christine scowled. She had just arrived at her doorstep when her mom texted her and said that Melissa was staying over at Mrs. Bennett's house and needed to be picked up. Honestly, Christine didn't get why her mother had yet to learn the lesson about babysitters, because all the babysitters that were previously hired to watch over Melissa were either creepy, idiotic, or just downright annoying. Christine especially remembered one particular babysitter who, for some reason, had no idea that babies' diapers needed to be changed regularly, which had resulted in a very stinky mess by the time Christine picked her sister up. And there was that other one who kept on babbling to her about how Melissa was such a beautiful baby (Christine swore that he sounded like he wanted to rape the poor toddler). And there was that one time when Mrs. Lee dropped Melissa off with an unmarried 40-year-old man who had no children of his own. Christine shuddered at the memory. She didn't even want to know what _that_ one was all about...

But she had met both Jane and Jamie Bennett at least once before, and they weren't bad people. So Christine just kept her fingers crossed that they would be at least mildly decent when it came to babysitting.

She arrived at the Bennett doorstep and rang the doorbell. She had expected the mother or son to answer; heck, maybe even Jamie's little sister she had been hearing so much about from her mom. But she was _not _expecting this sexy-looking (She pushed all dirty thoughts out of her mind at that moment) teenager, presumably around 17 or 18, to open the door. His eyes seemed to be one of the richest, most chocolatey brown eyes Christine had ever seen in her life. He was clad in a casual hoodie and these really weird-looking pants that had some kind of rope tied around the bottom, and his brown hair was messy and tussled. In other words, he looked as if he had just gotten out of bed, yet he managed to still look attractive. Christine would have been lying if she said her eyes didn't widen at the sight.

The boy gave her a small smile. "Hey. Are you Christine?"

Christine nodded slowly, feeling like his eyes were boring through her, but soon realized that she was staring at him. _Christine, get your head together! Seriously! _she mentally scolded herself furiously.

"Chwissy!" Melissa gurgled happily from inside the house and tried to stumble her way out; the boy almost immediately went over to her and scooped her up before going back to Christine. Christine took her from him, mumbled a quick thanks, and took off down the front steps.

Jack blinked, then shook his head. _Girls are weird._

Jamie came around the corner, the same one that Christine had disappeared off into just merely seconds ago, at that moment, seemingly looking back at Christine's retreating figure. His eyes darted to Jack, still standing in the doorway, waiting for him to enter the house before closing the door. When Jamie came up the front steps, he eyed Jack carefully. "...Christine just ran past me."

Jack nodded. "I know."

"Her face looked pretty red."

"Okay, and?"

"What did you _do _to her?"

Jack's jaw just about hit the ground at the false accusation. "I didn't do anything! I was just babysitting Melissa for Mrs. Lee and Christine just came by to get her! Her acting weird has _nothing _to do with me!"

Jamie raised an eyebrow, having a pretty good idea on the reason of Christine's odd behavior. "No, I think it really has a lot to do with you..."

"Did you make it to school on time or not?" Jack asked irritatedly, changing the subject.

"Do you...want the truth or the lie?"

Jack sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm a little scared to know the truth, so the lie."

"...I did _not _get a Saturday detention."

"...Your mom's not gonna be too happy with you, Jamie."

"Yeah, I know."

**Before anyone asks – NO, Christine is _not _Jack's love interest in this story. Let's face it: Jack's love interests are not the only girls who think he's a hottie. There are obviously gonna be some that crush on him, yet still sit on the sidelines. I'm not necessarily turning this into a romance fic (though some mild romance will still be seen – I mean, come on, the genre is drama!). But Christine will definitely be making an appearance again, but she'll only be a recurring character. And she won't be seen again until the chapter with Jack's first day of school or something.**

**So basically, this was a filler chapter, with an OC introduced (three OC's actually – if you count Mrs. Lee and Melissa). Something I should probably mention before I forget is that this fanfic will probably end up having _a lot_ of filler chapters – and I have _a lot _of ideas right now. Expect some more before Jack officially starts high school, because I don't think it's right if I just skip three whole weeks of being cooped up inside Jamie's house.**

**For once, I have things planned for the next chapter already. But I ain't giving any of you guys any spoilers.**

**And one reviewer asked me if I liked Twilight. The honest answer is no, but if you want the truly honest answer, then it's I've never seen Twilight before. I never bothered to read the books either. I just know what happens in the plot. That's all.**

**One more thing – Yeah, the other Guardians aren't making a lot of appearances, are they? I'll try and fit them in the next few chapters – and _definitely _when that monster thing turns up again. But that won't be for a while, so guess what that means? You guys get to watch Jack experience hormones, depression, and all that other crap for a pretty long while. So things won't get too dark with the villain just yet. Yeah.**

**Now that my (extremely long) rant is over, it's time for you guys to click that review button down below! :D**


	4. In Which Jack Meets the Andersons

**I got considerably less reviews on the third chapter, and I'm assuming that it's because I updated on a weekday.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians. You disclaimers annoy the hell out of me.**

Saturday had arrived, and, much to Jack's delight, snow had fallen the previous night. However, Jamie wasn't as happy as his friend, as Saturday meant that he had to go to school for the sixth day in a row to serve a one-hour detention. He had griped to Jack, "This was _not _how I planned for my break to start. And on a snow day, too."

As for Mrs. Bennett, she had to drop Jamie off at school and then go across the street to register Jack into high school, leaving Jack at home with Sophie.

Jack, having been cooped up in the house for the past couple of days with absolutely nothing to do, took Sophie out to play in the snow. He had brought his staff out, and Sophie was currently using it to draw pictures in the snow, while he crouched down next to her and watched. This had been going on for a while until two boys, looking to be around Jack's age, came down the sidewalk.

"I don't get why Mom made us come here," the one with black hair was sulking. "If she wants to make a delivery, she should do it herself."

"Aw, come on, Zander! She has work, and besides, you like the Bennetts," the brown-haired boy wearing these huge, black-rimmed glasses insisted as he rang the doorbell with one hand, carrying a big sack in the other.

A minute or so passed before the one called Zander said flatly, "Ring it again."

The other boy rang again, but still no one answered.

Zander, growing frustrated, started banging on the door. "For the love of– OPEN UP ALREADY!"

"No one's in the house."

Both boys turned toward the new speaker: a barefoot, brown-haired boy seemingly around their age. He was crouched next to a little girl whom they recognized as Sophie Bennett, unblinkingly watching the 4-year-old construct a drawing of a rabbit. Although he wasn't looking at Zander and his companion, it was clear that the amused smirk playing at his lips was meant to be directed at them.

"Wow, okay, thanks for not saying that like, 3 doorbells ago," Zander said sarcastically.

"You only rang the doorbell twice, unless if you're counting pounding on that poor door as a 'doorbell.' But anyway, you're welcome."

"That's beside the point. And I was being sarcastic! Seriously, dude, you made us look like idiots."

"Sorry," Jack said in the most unapologetic tone ever, standing up.

"Sorry-" Zander sputtered, and then went back to his sulky attitude. "Bastard..."

"Ahem, sorry about him," the other boy smiled sheepishly ("Why are you apologizing for _me_?!" Zander had exclaimed). "Um, do you know when Mrs. Bennett will be back?"

"She'll be gone for a while," Jack replied. "She went to drop Jamie off at detention and to go register me into high school."

"Goody-two-shoes Bennett got detention? That's rich," Zander snickered, all traces of a bad mood gone.

Glasses Boy (Jack officially decided to call the other boy that until he figured out his real name) rolled his eyes. "Ignore him. So are you registering for Burgess High?"

"Yup. Just moved here, and I'm living with Jamie and his mom for now. It's a _long _story," Jack added before either of them could ask.

"Oh, that's cool! We go there too," Glasses Boy smiled.

"We're the Andersons from across the street," Zander nodded in greeting. "I'm Zander, and this nerdy loser here is Spencer."

Glasses Boy, or Spencer, frowned. "Hey! I may be a nerd, but I am not a loser!"

"I'm Jack," Jack said. "Are you guys seniors? 'Cause I am."

Spencer nodded. "Yeah."

"Just as a heads up, being a senior sucks. At Burgess High, most of the drama at school involves the students who are graduating this year," Zander muttered, receiving a look from Spencer.

"Zander! Give him a break! Don't let him think that Burgess High is a bad school!"

Zander shrugged. "I'm just giving him a heads up before he ends up being disappointed at how much crappier his life will be once he starts."

"I'm standing right here," Jack interrupted flatly.

Sophie, looking up from her drawing, tilted her head curiously. "Crappier?"

Jack's head slowly turned to Sophie and then back to the brothers. "You geniuses just taught Jamie's little sister the word 'crappy.' Great job." He glared at them.

"What?!" Spencer cried. "I had nothing to do with that! Zander was the one who actually said it!"

"Well, how should I have known that Sophie's hearing was that good?!"

"She's a freakin' 4-year-old! Of course her hearing is good! What, did you expect her to be deaf or something?!" Jack yelled.

Their dispute continued until Mrs. Bennett suddenly appeared (When did she come back?) and interrupted the argument. "Boys, I could hear you all the way two houses over," she said disapprovingly. "What were you fighting about?"

"How Zander taught your daughter a word that means poop," Spencer tattled, ignoring the "I'm-so-gonna-kill-you-later" look his brother was shooting him.

Mrs. Bennett sighed. "Oh, Zander..." She knelt down to look at Sophie. "Sophie, darling, whatever word big brother Zander taught you is not a good word to say, okay? Promise Mama that you won't say it again."

"I pwomise, Mama." Sophie looked up at her mother with innocent eyes.

Spencer sighed. "She's so cute."

Mrs. Bennett stood up. "Zander, Spencer, why are you two visiting?"

Spencer held up his bag. "Our mom cooked hot pot last night, but she accidentally made too much. So she decided to give all the extra servings to you."

Mrs. Bennett smiled warmly. "Well, isn't that just sweet of her! We'll be having hot pot for Christmas dinner then."

"Mrs. Bennett, how did registration go?" Jack asked.

"Good, but Jack, you're going to have to go meet the principal yourself this Monday. It's part of your registration completion," Jamie's mother replied. "I bought some new clothes and some shoes for you to wear as well."

Jack looked taken aback. "Whoa, wait, what? New clothes? _Shoes_?"

"Of course, sweetie. You weren't really planning to wear what you're wearing right now, were you?"

Jack looked down at his hoodie, pants, and bare feet. "Actually, that was my agenda."

"Dude, you're not gonna make a very good impression on the principal if you wear that," Zander spoke up. "He doesn't exactly aim for you to show up in a tie and dress pants, but he does expect you to at least cover up your feet with shoes."

Spencer nodded. "For once, he's right."

"But I don't like wearing shoes," Jack simply said. "In fact, I don't own a single pair of shoes."

"And your old school was okay with that?" Spencer questioned.

"I was home-schooled," was the answer Jack gave.

"Well, that explains a lot," Zander muttered.

Mrs. Bennett looked surprised. "Jack, you never told me that."

"I didn't think it was important at the time. And besides, my parents were already planning on enrolling me into an actual school once we moved," Jack said before he could help himself. _Damn myself._

"But seriously, about the shoes, how do your feet not get numb? You're standing in snow," Zander persisted on.

"I'm very well aware of what I'm standing in," Jack replied caustically. "And it's a beautiful miracle called getting into the habit of it."

At least that one wasn't really a complete lie. Back in the 1700's, Jack, having been from a poor family, didn't own any sort of shoes (or even moccasins), leaving him with no choice but to leave his feet to adapt to the nature of walking on the hard ground.

"Okay, enough about the feet," Spencer said, changing the topic. "What we're all trying to say is that the principal would want you to wear something other than what you're wearing right now."

"But this is my only outfit."

Both Zander and Spencer couldn't prevent themselves from gaping at that.

Mrs. Bennett just sighed. "I knew I was right when I bought you clothes. Let's go in the house, shall we? I'll have you try on everything I bought for you."

Her cell phone rang at that moment, and she picked up. "Yes? ... Oh, Jamie! Right, I'll be right over." She hung up, and said, "I completely forgot that I have to pick Jamie up from detention. Change of plans. Zander, Spencer, the clothes I bought for Jack are in the storage closet, and you know where that is. Get Jack to try on some of the outfits I bought for him. As fellow teenage boys, I trust you to have a good fashion sense when it comes to this." She eyed them knowingly before heading off.

Zander and Spencer both looked at Jack with smug and slightly evil expressions on their faces. Before Jack knew it, there was one brother on each side hooking arms with him, and they swiftly carried him inside the house, much to his protests. Sophie, wondering what the three boys were doing, simply followed suit, dragging Jack's staff behind her.

* * *

Jack definitely didn't feel used to being out of his hoodie and actually having shoes on for the first time in his life. He tugged at his new, red, short-sleeved, unbuttoned flannel shirt that he wore over a long-sleeved, black V-neck, which he had rolled the sleeves up to his elbows. He wore dark blue jeans and black combat boots. On top of his head was baseball cap, with the bill pointed forward. He had to admit the clothes themselves were comfortable, but the sensation of wearing something so different from what he wore for the past 300 years was not.

He, Zander, and Spencer were currently all sitting in the Bennett guest room, where Jack was staying in for the time being. Sophie was also in the room, playing with Abby the greyhound.

"I still don't get why shoes are necessary," Jack spoke up.

"What's your big deal with shoes?" Spencer asked.

"The only shoes that were ever offered to me in the past were these light blue elf shoes. And they had _bells _on the tips."

Spencer wasn't even going to bother asking. Neither was Zander. But the latter couldn't help but retort, "At least we didn't make you wear these giant clown shoes. I swear I saw a pair of those in that giant bag with all your new clothes in it."

Spencer nodded. "Yeah, I think I saw them too..."

The front door was heard opening, and a few seconds later, Jamie came into the room. "Hey, Mom said the Anderson twins are here, so– Whoa, Jack, you look different..."

"I've heard," Jack replied sourly. "...Wait, twins? What?"

"Yeah, we know we don't look like each other," Spencer shrugged.

"Sure explains a lot about our personalities, doesn't it?" Zander dismissively said.

**...I don't like this chapter as much as the three previous chapters. It sounded so much better in my head.**

**So if you're wondering where I imagined up Jack's new outfit (which I doubt you are, but I'm going to tell you anyway)... I had a dream about him, okay? Something about him going to a baseball stadium with the other Guardians disguised as humans. Yeah, it was pretty weird(I myself wasn't even in it). I ended up making a few modifications though. In my dream, Jack's flannel was buttoned and I think he was wearing sneakers. But after thinking about it for a bit, I decided to make his shirt here unbuttoned and I like combat boots more than sneakers.**

**So by the looks of it, this will be updated faster than Fate. It seems pretty unbalanced, but if my predictions are correct, then this will have many more chapters than Fate. And Fate's next chapter is about halfway done (You Powerless Guardian followers are lucky that I decided not to wait and complete Fate's next chapter and _then_ upload this along with Fate).**

**Rant is now over. You know what that means? Hint: It's got to do with the review button below. ;D**


	5. In Which Jack Adopts a Pet

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians.**

On Monday morning, Jack exited his shower, shirtless (He had pants on) with a towel draped around his neck. He went to his room...

...To find Bunnymund, Tooth, and Sandy all waiting for him there.

There was a beat of silence (and a few of Tooth's mini-fairies fainting), before Jack shook out of his stupor, his face red with embarrassment. "WHAT THE HELL?! GET OUT OF MY ROOM AND LET ME PUT ON A SHIRT FIRST!"

He shoved his 3 visitors out of the guest room and slammed the door.

* * *

Jack opened the door again a few minutes later, now having on the exact same outfit he wore on Saturday. He seemed to have calmed down for the most part, but his eyebrow was raised in a way that showed that he still felt annoyed at the violation of privacy.

Bunnymund spoke first. "Mate, ya look different."

"I'm sick and tired of hearing people say that to me. The next person who tells me that gets shoved out the window, got it?" Jack, not amused, motioned to said (second-floor) window. "And anyway, where's North?"

"Busy with Christmas," Tooth explained briefly. "We came to check up on you and how you're doing with mortality. We can't stay for long though; we'll need to get back to work soon."

"And yer welcome," Bunnymund grumbled.

Ignoring Bunnymund, Jack shrugged. "Eh, it's pretty nice to finally be visible to someone who isn't a child, but it sucks how I have to wait for snow to come on its own now."

Sandy pointed at his new clothes and formed a question mark.

Jack looked down at his attire and sighed. "I know, Sandy. I'm going to Burgess High this afternoon. You know, to register for school."

There was another beat of silence, before Bunnymund deadpanned, "I hope that what I just heard was just me needin' an ear checkup, mate."

"If you heard me say that I'm going to school, then your hearing is perfectly fine," Jack said back with the same monotonous tone. "And before you start nagging me about how I'm just causing more trouble for all of us, I'll have you know that I didn't really have a choice."

"But still, couldn't you have asked Jamie's mom to home-school you?" Tooth asked.

"I actually didn't think that up until it was too late," Jack admitted begrudgingly. "And she probably wouldn't be able to do that anyway. She's gone from the house pretty much half the time, whether it's to buy groceries or to go to the bank or something."

The door then swung open to reveal Mrs. Bennett herself. "Jack, I heard you talking to yourself. Is something wrong?"

Jack held back a snort when Mrs. Bennett almost walked right through Bunnymund, though the rabbit jumped out of the way. "Oh yeah, things are going great. I'm just practicing what I'm going to say to the principal."

Jamie's mother seemed satisfied with that answer. "Well, just keep track of the time. Your appointment is at 1:15. And I'm almost done making lunch, so be downstairs in 10 minutes, okay?"

Once she left, Tooth piped up, "We all have to go back to work now. By the way, Jack..."

The next 3 seconds involved Tooth sticking her fingers into Jack's mouth and Jack prying her off, insisting that he had been flossing everyday.

"As sparkly as always," Tooth smiled in approval, and then turned to Bunnymund and Sandy. "Come on, guys, let's go."

* * *

Jack fingered with his new, light blue scarf nervously (Blue usually made him feel better. Not this time though). Now that he stood outside the principal's office, he suddenly began wishing that he truly was practicing what he was going to say instead of lying his head off to Jamie's mother.

"May I help you with something?" a young woman, presumably in her late 20's, opened the door and smiled at Jack. "You've been standing outside the office for the past 5 minutes."

Jack snapped out of his trance. "Huh? Oh- Right. Sorry. I'm a new student here. Is the principal in there?"

The woman's smile grew. "Why, yes. I'm the secretary here at Burgess High. My name is Miss Martinez. Why don't you come on in?"

Jack went into the office and hung his jacket and scarf up on the coat rack. He looked around, observing his surroundings. The heater was on, so it was fairly warm inside. The office itself was pretty big, with the main desk, and many other conjoined rooms off to the side, for the principal, vice principal, counselor, et cetera.

Jack sat in a chair that was placed next to the doorway leading into the door labeled for the principal, and Miss Martinez told him that Mr. Kankansala, or whatever the principal's name was, would be out in just a minute.

When Mr. Kankansala called Jack in, Jack couldn't really mask his surprise at the interior of the office. It was smaller than the main office (He expected that), but the walls had rows of shelves, and the shelves carried _stuffed animals_. As in teddy bears and lamb plushies. Also, instead of the vice principal being in his own office, he was seated in a chair off to the side, writing something down in a student record. Something like that. He only looked up at Jack for one moment without smiling, and resumed what he was doing.

As for Mr. Kankansala, he squealed once Jack came in through the door. "Oh my goodness, look at you! I've heard so much from Mrs. Bennett about you, and you're even more adorable than I imagined!"

Jack really didn't know what to make of that remark. "Um... Thanks?"

"Have a seat, have a seat. Your legs must be sore from trudging through all that snow!"

"The house I'm staying in isn't really that far away..."

"WHATEVER. SIT DOWN ANYWAY."

Jack sat down and waited to see what this apparently weird principal was about to say next.

"As you know, I'm the principal here at Burgess High, Mr. Kankansala. Though I would prefer it if you would call me Mr. Kaka," Mr. Kaka giggled girlishly. "And over here is my trusted assistant and your vice principal, Mr. Suzuki."

Jack gave a meek wave. "Hi."

Mr. Suzuki's reaction was the same as before when Jack came into the office: glancing up blankly for a second and resuming work.

"So Jack, tell me about yourself," Mr. Kaka propped his elbows onto his desk and smiled sweetly at who was soon to be his new student.

"...I was home-schooled up until now," Jack finally said rather lamely.

Mr. Kaka's smile grew. "I know, I assumed that when I couldn't find any school record of you when I did my research on you."

Jeez, could this principal get any creepier?

"What about any hidden talents? Any fun facts about you?"

"I know martial arts and how to use a rifle." Jack honestly stopped caring about what he shouldn't say to the principal, now that he saw how weird he really was.

Mr. Suzuki had looked up again, although this time he looked a bit weirded out at Jack's rifle mention. Catching this, Jack quickly added, "Not that I would use it here at school. It's just for tradition in my family." He didn't need the vice principal getting a bad impression, just in case Mr. Kaka got demoted (which seemed very likely) and he got promoted to be the actual principal.

Mr. Suzuki frowned. "Mr. Kaka, are you sure it's a good idea to admit this kid into Burgess High?"

Mr. Kaka laughed. "Of course, Suzuki. Why can't I be sure?"

"Why can't you... He owns a _rifle_. Which is completely illegal if the owner is under the age of 21, by the way."

"It's not my rifle. It's actually my dad's," Jack hurriedly said. "He's in the military. And I never really got to shoot anything with it. I just know how to use it. You know, like how to hold it and...stuff."

Mr. Suzuki seemed somewhat skeptical to believe him, but eventually nodded. "Well, just don't go spreading the word about that. A lot of our staff members are sore over the tragedy in Connecticut last Friday."

Jack was genuinely confused. "What tragedy?"

Mr. Suzuki seemed taken aback by this. "You really don't know? On Friday, a gunman entered an elementary school and shot 20 students and 7 adults dead."

Jack really didn't know what to say after that. "Uh... Okay, I understand..."

Mr. Kaka sighed. "Yes, that was a grim day that will always be remembered. Anyway, Jack, you're free to go. I hope you find Burgess High a nice school."

Jack blinked. Wasn't the principal supposed to delve into his privacy even more and ask him a lot more questions?

Mr. Suzuki seemed to be having similar thoughts because he shot a look at Mr. Kaka. "Mr. Kaka, you're already letting this kid go?"

Jack secretly wished that the vice principal would stop referring him as "this kid."

"Of course I am! He's an interesting fellow! Now tata, Suzuki, I have to go make a phone call to Larry."

Mr. Kaka waved and left the office. Once he was out of hearing range, Jack, still sitting, immediately said, "I personally think that it's really weird how he's your boss and not the other way around. And who's Larry?"

Mr. Suzuki ran a hand over his hair and sighed again. "I know, so do I. And Larry is his imaginary friend, who happens to be a goat."

Jack wasn't even going to ask. He stood up, left the room, put on his jacket and scarf, and left the campus.

* * *

"Even more adorable... Larry... Imaginary goat friend... Creepy, idiotic principal..." Jack muttered on the way home. Zander and Spencer had both told him that Mr. Kaka wouldn't like it if he showed up barefoot, yet after experiencing what he had just gone through, Jack really was suspecting the twins to have been lying.

A rustling noise interrupted his thoughts and he stopped trudging. He heard it again and it was coming from a nearby bush. Curiosity getting the best of him, Jack went over to the bush and peered behind it. A snow-white (More like it would have been snow-white if it didn't look so dirty) Turkish Angora was sitting there, licking her paw. She quietly stopped once she sensed Jack's gaze on her and looked right back up at him with huge, hazel eyes.

"Where's your owner?" Jack asked her. Not that she could actually respond.

The cat meowed once and resumed licking her paw.

Jack quickly caught on. "...Do you even have an owner?" He had a pretty good idea on the answer to that question, so he didn't wait for an answer before sighing. "I listen to my conscience way too much. You're coming with me."

He picked her up – she didn't even bother clawing at his face to break free – and carried her the rest of the way to Jamie's house.

"Hey," Jamie greeted, keeping his eyes on the TV screen.

"Oh, hey. Weren't you out sledding with your friends?"

Jamie shrugged. "Yeah, but Kevin fell off of his sled and sprained his ankle. So all of us went home."

Jack winced. "Ouch." He looked at the TV. "Whatcha watching?"

"I'm watching reruns of this old Nickelodeon cartoon called Danny Phantom. It's about this 14-year-old boy who has these parents with this ghost obsession. One day, they built a ghost portal and, long story short, Danny went in and became half-ghost."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Weird plot."

"His ghost form looks like you, though. See?" Jamie pointed at the TV.

"He does not," Jack griped after looking.

"Hey, what's that?" Jamie only then noticed the feline in Jack's arms.

Jack looked down at the cat. "Oh, she's a stray. I picked her up on the way home."

"You're not...planning on keeping her though, right?"

"Why can't I?"

"We have a dog, remember? Abby? And you know that tension dogs and cats have with each other?"

"Don't worry, I'll make sure both pets don't end up killing each other," Jack reassured. "And I was the one who took her, so I take full responsibility for her. Besides, your mom wouldn't mind, right?"

Jamie sighed. "She won't, but Abby will... Fine. Have you thought up a name for her yet?"

Jack frowned. "Not yet... I'm just gonna call her Wynter. Wynter with a Y."

Jamie stuck out his tongue. "Of course you would pick a name like that."

"What's that supposed to mean? It fits her! Just look at her fur!"

"Looks like she rolled around in mud all day long."

"...Look at her fur once I'm done giving her a bath! I'll be back down in about 20 minutes."

Jack ran upstairs, while Jamie shook his head in amusement. Sometimes, Jack seemed to be the more childish one out of the two of them.

**...I wanted to give Jack a pet, and I thought a cat suited him better than a dog. And besides, Jamie's residence already has a dog. :P**

**I saw on the Rise of the Guardians Wiki that Jack knew martial arts, and in my opinion, that actually makes a lot of sense. I mean, do you see how _agile _he is?! And I included that rifle bit because I thought that if Jack lived in the colonial times, then he must have known how to use a rifle... Right? I suck at history, so I have absolutely no idea if sons of shepherds were trained to shoot stuff, but I included that anyway...  
**

**You know what's weird? I had the part with Jack confessing that he knew how to use a rifle all typed up before the Connecticut massacre yesterday. But after hearing about it, I couldn't help but mention it.**

**Speaking of the massacre, here's a little self-advertisement again. Go check out my Rise of the Guardians drabble that was specifically written for all those victims of the school shooting.**

**So I managed to put the other Guardians (except for North) in this chapter (and have them walk in on Jack's shirtless moment. Lol Teehee). 8D**

**Congratulations to this chapter for being the longest chapter of this story yet! It already exceeds 2,000 words without the author's notes. :D**

**Reviews will be appreciated now that my Boba-rant is over!**


	6. In Which Jack Gets School Info

**Finals are starting tomorrow, so I'm updating this one final time before I go through that stuff. But right after is winter break, so I'll be updating a lot then.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, and probably never will. If I did, Jack would have a bunch of *cough* **_**certain **_**scenes and Bunnymund would forever be a tiny little kitty-bunny.**

"You invited all your neighborhood friends to come over for dinner tonight?"

Mrs. Bennett smiled at the two boys. "Uh-huh. And Jamie, your father is coming too. Isn't this great?"

Both Jack and Jamie were not as ecstatic as her, but for different reasons.

"How come you never say anything about this kind of stuff until the last minute?" Jack frowned at her.

"Why is _Dad _coming?" Jamie mentioned his father as if he was poison in his mouth.

Mrs. Bennett sighed. "Now, Jamie, I know you don't want to see your father, but he's still a part of the family."

Jamie scoffed. "Even though you guys are divorced? Doesn't divorce basically severe all ties between the husband and wife?"

"Honey, that isn't necessarily it. We divorced for a reason..."

"And when me and Sophie got to choose if we wanted to stay with you or Dad, we both chose you. I don't know about Sophie, but I chose you for a reason."

Jack couldn't help but be surprised. This was the first time he saw Jamie appear to hold true resentment for something.

"I'm going to my room. Don't bother coming after me," Jamie grumbled and left the living room.

Mrs. Bennett rubbed her temples and sighed again. "What am I going to do with that boy..."

Jack suddenly felt as if his presence was forgotten, so he cleared his throat. "What was that all about?"

Mrs. Bennett glanced at him. "When Jamie's father and I separated a few years ago, Jamie wasn't particularly happy to learn that his father was leaving the house. He's been taking it very seriously, so whenever his father comes over during this time of year, Jamie makes sure that both of them don't talk to each other unless if it's absolutely necessary."

Jack blinked. "So let me get this straight... Jamie's giving his dad the cold shoulder just because...he misses him?"

Mrs. Bennett shrugged. "That's pretty much it. Jamie just feels betrayed that his father doesn't bother seeing him, unlike the times when they used to see each other everyday."

"So why doesn't his dad pay visits more often?"

"He's a businessman who often has to travel, and has almost no time to visit his children. The only time he has is during the time of the holidays. But Jamie fails to understand that."

Jack stood silent for a moment, and then headed upstairs. He knocked on Jamie's bedroom door, and called out, "Hey, I know you said not to bother coming after you, but I personally think that's a bunch of bull, so I'm just gonna kick the door open now because it's locked and I know you're not gonna unlock it for me. And I know martial arts and I'm wearing combat boots so don't blame me if I accidentally break off the hinges."

He heard scuffling from the other side of the closed door, and just as he was raising his foot, a frantic Jamie opened the door. "Okay, okay! You can come in! Just don't wreck my door, sheesh."

Jack inwardly smirked. _Works every time._

Jamie sat down on his bed. "I know this is about my dad."

Jack sat next to him. "Yeah, it is. I'm not saying that I'm forcing you to actually talk to him though. I just wanna say that it wouldn't be terrible if you did, because if you really want to see him more, then you better make the most out of his few visits."

"I know, it's just that..." Jamie sighed exasperatedly. "I told him didn't want to lose him, and he still moved out of the house. And the reason I chose to stay with Mom is because it felt like if I stayed with Dad, it would feel like he had taken me and Soph away from her."

"Jamie, both you and I know that wasn't what he meant to do."

"Like I said, I know that, I just...need some time to think."

"Fine by me. Just don't stay holed up in your room for too long, alright?"

* * *

The guests started coming in through the front door at around 4 in the afternoon. The Kimberlys and the Johnsons arrived together, and frankly, Jack wasn't too happy to see 6-year-old Scott Kimberly. Two days ago, on Wednesday, Jack was playing in the snow with Sophie and Scott had come by and kicked over the tiny snowman Sophie was building. She had started crying, and long story short, Jack hadn't approved of that, but Scott had stuck his tongue out at him and run off before the older boy could chew him out. And once Jamie came home and was relieved of the story, Jamie had explained that Scott was the neighborhood brat and had once swatted Kevin in the groin with a rolled-up newspaper.

Then came the Lees. Christine, for some reason, seemed to almost have a heart attack when Jack had answered the door. And then she had mumbled a hello and hurried off to the kitchen, taking Melissa with her.

Then there were a couple more families that Jack couldn't care less about (Though he had to note to himself that Mrs. Bennett had quite a lot of friends that lived on the same block), but no sign of Jamie's father.

"Where's Dad?" Jamie asked anxiously, opening the front door and scanning the street.

"He'll be here soon, sweetie," Mrs. Bennett assured, shooting side glances at Jack, curious to how he had persuaded her son into looking forward to seeing Mr. Bennett.

Jamie sighed for probably the millionth time that day. "Fine."

He began to close the door, but a yelp rang out, "NONONONONO WAIT!"

Zander suddenly appeared out of nowhere, stumbling as he dragged a dark blue beanbag chair (Wait – a _beanbag chair_?) along with him. "Don't close the door yet!"

Jamie obeyed and opened the door wider for Zander and the rest of his family to come in.

Zander panted as he was finally indoors and put a hand on Jamie's shoulder. "Thanks, kid."

"Zander, you didn't have to be so desperate to get inside the house, you know," Spencer said from behind.

"Yeah, well, thanks to _somebody_–" Zander glared at Jack at this moment– "I now have extreme paranoia that every house we visit will be empty."

Jack smirked.

"Abigail!" Mrs. Bennett's face lightened up. "It's so nice to see you! Thank you so much for the hot pot! We're actually having it for dinner tonight!"

"There's no need to thank me. Think of it as an early Christmas present from me," Mrs. Anderson smiled, and then turned to Jack. "And you must be Jack. You're so cute! I heard so much about you from my sons."

Zander rolled his eyes and mouthed, "_Moms_" to Jack.

"Including the part about you letting them ring the doorbell twice before you told them that no one was home," Mr. Anderson snickered.

Zander looked at his father, absolutely horrified. "_Dad_! You're supposed to be on _our _side!"

"I am ashamed to be related to this imbecile of a brother," Spencer told Jack flatly.

"HEY! I heard that!"

The doorbell suddenly rang and Mrs. Bennett opened the door to reveal a man probably in his mid-30's, looking as if he rushed here. Jack had a pretty good feeling that this man was Jamie's father, and his theory was proven when he saw Jamie tense up slightly.

Mrs. Bennett smiled slightly. "Liam."

Mr. Bennett nodded in return. "Jane." He looked down at Sophie and smiled just a tiny bit. "Sophie." He finally turned to his son. "Jamie."

Jamie didn't say anything, so Jack nudged him gently. "Hey... Dad," he finally said, albeit reluctantly.

"Okay... This is really, really awkward so we're just gonna go to Jack's room," Spencer nervously butted in, and he grabbed Jack by the arm and started dragging him to the guest room, with Zander following suit, still carrying the beanbag chair.

Once there with the door shut, Zander dropped the beanbag chair and flopped down on the bed. "Oh man, I don't think I've ever been in such a tense atmosphere before in my life. What was that all about?"

"It's something called father and son becoming distant with each other," Jack sighed, his back leaning against the door. "They're gonna need a lotta time to get back to the way they used to be." He eyed the beanbag chair wearily. "And why'd you bring that here?"

Spencer suddenly seemed to have remembered something. "Oh, right! This is our Christmas present to you."

Jack raised both eyebrows. "A beanbag chair? Ya know, I wouldn't have minded a simpler present. Like a box of chocolates or something."

"Giving you a box of chocolates would make the two of us seem gay for you," Zander replied flatly. "Besides, chocolates are for Valentine's Day."

"But still, you didn't have to go to trouble and buy me a giant, fun piece of furniture," Jack pointed out as he sat down on his present. "But then again, it's pretty comfy..."

"We didn't go out and buy it. It was ours a few years ago until we accidentally scratched a tear into it. And a few days ago, Mom made us find you a present and both of us were broke so we just fished around the house, found the chair, and put duct tape over the tear," Zander informed bluntly.

"Zander! He didn't need to know all that!" Spencer hissed at his brother.

"He's right, I really didn't," Jack deadpanned. Now that Zander had given him that interesting fact, he suddenly noticed a giant piece of duct tape on the side of the beanbag chair.

Zander shrugged. "Hey, you thought we actually went out and bought something for you, and I wasn't about to lie to you. You needed something to spice up this room anyway. Without the chair, it's pretty plain."

Spencer cleared his throat. "Ahem. How did your meeting with the principal go?" he asked, successfully redirecting the topic.

"Oh," Jack blinked. "It went great."

"Really?"

"No. I didn't enjoy finding out that my principal is a nutcase who owns an imaginary pet goat. You know, I don't think he would've minded it if I showed up with no shoes on."

"Yeah, he probably wouldn't have, but Mr. Suzuki sure would've," Zander pointed out.

"And besides, there are some rumors going around speculating that..." Spencer coughed. "Mr. Kaka has a foot fetish."

"After seeing what I saw on Monday, I don't think I should be surprised at anything strange about him anymore," Jack remarked. "He didn't even talk to me about my classes. How is my schedule gonna get organized if he doesn't even know what level of each subject I'm at?"

"Don't worry, Mr. Kaka always has a way to figure that out," Spencer assured. "A lot of people say that he can figure anyone out just by looking at them."

"In my opinion, I say he's telepathic," Zander muttered.

"The school is gonna mail you your schedule, and you'll most likely get it sometime next week," Spencer continued, ignoring his brother. "But one thing's for certain: You're gonna get put in performance art class."

"It's required, which is the stupidest thing ever," Zander added.

The door swung open and Christine came into the room. "Uh... Hey... My mom told me that I should hang out with you guys, even though I said I don't want to, so..."

Jack shrugged. "Sure, I guess."

Christine scooted awkwardly to the side of the bed and sat down next to Zander. "Thanks..."

Jack frowned in confusion at her odd behavior, and the twins simply exchanged looks with each other.

"What exactly is performance art class?" Jack wondered.

"It's a class that you will have to take sometime during the 4 years of high school. There, you...well, perform," Christine said, her shy persona disappearing. "There's singing, dancing, acting, and there's even a section for makeup artistry. They let you choose which section you want to do though. And you can switch around when you feel like it, too. It's a huge class, and even the middle-schoolers know all about it. I personally haven't had it yet, so I'll obviously get put in it during my junior or senior year."

"It wouldn't be too surprising if you ended up having it with the two of us," Zander casually commented. "Most of our other friends have it with us, too."

"Uh, that's only because we met most of our friends _because_ of performance art class," Spencer pointed out.

"Still doesn't change the fact that Newbie here might have it with us."

Jack frowned at the nickname and was about to say something about it until an anguished coo came out, "Chwissy!"

Melissa came wobbling through the door, which Christine had forgotten to close, with tears streaming down her cheeks.

Christine got up and plucked her sister up off the floor. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"Mean boy called Scott said that Santa no exist and that Santa is big doo-doo bwain!"

Zander frowned. "Scott Kimberly said that Santa Claus is a big doo-doo brain and that he doesn't exist? How can someone be a doo-doo brain if he doesn't exist? Does that make any sense at all?"

"Zander, Scott is 6 years old," Spencer reminded him.

_Yeah, if he was any older than that, I would've punched him in the face for saying that kind of stuff about North_, Jack thought darkly. But instead, he said, "Don't listen to him. He's just upset that he got on the naughty list this year." He could almost guarantee that really was true.

Melissa sniffled. "Weally?"

Christine smiled down at her. "Really."

Melissa managed to grin back through her tears. "Okay. Thank you, Chwissy." She turned to Jack. "And her boyfwiend, too." She giggled and left the room.

Jack was sure that Christine truly did suffer a heart attack this time, 'cause she almost fell off the bed. "Melissa! He's not my boyfriend!" she called out frantically after her sister. Just because she drew a...picture of Jack in her notebook for art class that day she first met him did _not_ mean they had a thing for each other!

However, Jack looked indifferent, if not amused. "Hey, she's barely 2. She doesn't mean anything when she says that."

Christine calmed herself down enough to sit still again. "I-I guess... It usually takes a lot to reassure Melissa when it comes to things like this, and you managed to cheer her up right away. You have more of that older sibling power than I do."

Jack shrugged. "It's nothing. It's just that I know how it feels to have a younger sister."

"You have a sister back home?" Zander asked him.

Jack smiled nostalgically. "You could say that."

"What's her name?" Christine grew piqued.

Jack's smile grew. "Pippa."

Zander snorted for a brief moment until Spencer threw a pillow at his face. "How old is she?" the more reserved brother continued the interrogation.

"She was eight the last time I saw her."

"Why do you sound like you haven't seen her in a long time?" Zander crossed his arms.

"'Cause I haven't."

"Wha-"

"You three seem very interested in this," Jack remarked, playing with the tape on his new chair.

Zander scoffed. "Of course we are. I don't know about Spencer or Chris, but you always seemed like the only child type to me."

Spencer and Christine both nodded in agreement.

"And that's why people say not to judge a book by its cover," Jack said, not looking up. "In fact, there are lots of things that you guys don't know about me – OW!"

Scott Kimberly sinisterly smiled, standing in the doorway and holding a large pail of pebbles he had picked up from outside. "Oops."

Jack gritted his teeth, rubbing the top of his head where the small stone had hit. "Do that again and I'm gonna–"

"You'll what? Kick me out of your room? Mom said I could play here."

"Yeah, she said _play_, not _throw rocks at other people in the room_ – OW! Quit it!"

Scott pretended to think. "Hm... Nope, I wanna do this some more."

It took every ounce of self-control Jack had gained during the few months as a Guardian to not grab his staff (which was leaning against the wall) and start beating the child over the head with it. For once, there was actually something that was even more irritating than Bunnymund.

"It's kinda funny how you're the only one he's throwing rocks at – YOW!" Zander winced as he rubbed his head. The pebble that had hit him was a particularly large one, and a small bump forming its way on top was possible. It didn't help that Scott played baseball and had a good pitching arm.

Jack couldn't help but think that it was actually pretty funny to see someone get pelted with small rocks when he wasn't the one getting hit.

Scott threw two more rocks – one at Christine and one at Spencer – before running off before anyone could catch him, laughing his head off.

Zander growled, still rubbing his head. "I hate that kid so much."

Jack rolled his eyes. "You're not alone on this one."

Christine rubbed her arm where the pebble had hit. "Mrs. Kimberly is a good woman, but for some reason, she stays so ignorant when it comes to her son's behavior."

Spencer, having expected to have a small stone thrown at him, had successfully dodged. "You'd think a kid like that would still believe in Santa, whether he's naughty or nice."

"I know. I was so much more down-to-earth than he is, and I only stopped believing when I was 10," Christine said.

"I stopped believing when I was 11," Zander spoke up.

Spencer frowned. "So I'm the only one who stopped believing only when I turned 14? Wow, I was late..." He turned to Jack. "What about you – Whoa, are you okay?"

Jack was sending all of them some frowns. "You guys really think Santa doesn't exist?"

"Of course not!" Zander exclaimed. "We're all 18 – Well, she's 16." He shot a glance at Christine. "But anyway, don't you think we're a bit too old for that kind of stuff? You're not saying _you_ still believe, are you?"

"What if I said yes? Have you ever considered that he might be real?"

"It's not possible," Spencer argued. "He's just as real as the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy."

Jack knew better than to mention the Sandman.

"But I saw Bunny," Sophie pouted. Jack was starting to wonder if she was some kind of ninja or he and the other three were turning blind, as nobody saw her come in.

"Did you?" Christine smiled. "Was he nice?"

"He had a funny accent," Sophie blinked innocently.

"Funny accent? When I was little, I didn't picture the Easter Bunny having a funny accent," Zander remarked.

"Well, maybe the Easter Kanga – Bunny does," Jack pointed out, still a tad bit annoyed.

"You're weird," Zander told him.

Jamie appeared and took Sophie's hand. "Come on, Soph, let's leave them alone."

"Jamie, how's you and your dad?"

"Uh... Okay..." the shifty-eyed Jamie said tentatively.

"Why do I feel like you're actually not?"

"No, we really are! ...I think. A-Anyway, come on, Soph." Jamie hurried Sophie out of the room.

Jack sighed. "Oh yeah, they have a lot of work to do." He turned back to the other three. "You were saying?"

"You're weird," Zander said again.

"Maybe I have a reason to be weird – Ugh, I don't want to talk about this anymore. Look, I don't see how we got from talking about my class schedule to talking about belief in spirits. Do you guys want to see Wynter?"

"Uh, depends on who Wynter is..." Spencer said tentatively.

"A cat that I picked up off the sidewalk a few days ago."

Spencer sighed in relief. "Okay, good. I thought Wynter was a canine companion for Abby or something."

"Spencer's afraid of Abby. Dogs in general," Zander explained curtly.

Spencer frowned. "It's not my fault this huge dog ran up to me while I was little and bit me! And FYI, it bit you too!"

"Yeah, but I got over it."

"You were scared of Abby when you first saw her, too!"

"Yeah, but I'm not anymore because I actually gave her a chance. She doesn't really bite, unless if she's chasing a rabbit or something."

Jack was instantly reminded of the time Abby chased Bunnymund.

"THINK FAST!" Scott appeared in the doorway again with a particularly large rock in his hand, and chucked it at Spencer. Spencer didn't react fast enough to dodge this time, so the stone hit him square in the groin. He doubled over on the bed and groaned in pain.

Zander, giving Scott a death stare, shielded Christine's horrified eyes. All Jack could do was stare. First Kevin, and now Spencer? What was with Scott and groins? Speaking of Scott, the 6-year-old maniac ran off, laughing even harder than before.

Zander, for the first time in the short period Jack had known him, seemed truly concerned for his brother. "Dude, are your balls okay?"

"Not...really..." Spencer managed to hiss in response.

"...I'm just gonna...go get Wynter now..." Jack finally said slowly, and inched his way out of the room.

**...Okay, so I lied when I said Christine wasn't going to show up again until Jack actually starts going to school. But she is still **_**not**_** his love interest. Heck, I'm pretty sure Jack's not going to have a love interest at all.**

**And HOLY BOBA, THIS CHAPTER IS EVEN LONGER THAN THE LAST ONE. My guess is because of all the dialogue. This chapter is boring, and I am aware of that. I SERIOUSLY CAN'T WAIT TO GET TO THE GOOD STUFF ASDFGHJK.**

**If any of you are getting impatient (which I completely understand) and are wondering when these countless fillers are going to end... I say there are going to be two more, and that's it. **_**Then**_** we get to the stuff you guys came here for. I don't know if you guys are enjoying these fillers or not, so bear with me until then, alright?**

**Do you guys like Scott Kimberly? I'm not sure if I should make him appear again, so I'll let you guys decide that one for me.**

**And one more thing: Apparently, Larry the imaginary goat has become very popular with a certain reviewer of mine *coughHana-chan111cough* so he'll be appearing a lot more than originally intended.**

**Now click the review button below and do what I want you to do if you want a tiny Jack doll (complete with a button to make him talk).**


	7. In Which Jack Breaks a Nose

**Turns out the name Pippa really belongs to Jamie's friend. You know, the one with the white hat. Oops. Oh well, the damage has been done. I'll just have Jack's sister and the real Pippa have the same name, since they have the same voice actress. Though I personally think that Pippa suits Jack's sister more than it suits Jamie's friend. Why am I even going off on this tangent?**

**Also, I received some very amusing reviews last chapter considering that Scott threw a rock at Spencer's man parts. Spencer wants you to know that his groin is fine. The doctor said that there's a 10% chance that he won't be able to have children in the future though. As for Scott, he just wants to say that he regrets nothing. Absolutely nothing. And I'm just sitting here scrolling through my reviews, 100% glad that I included that part.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, and that is most likely a good thing.**

Jamie yawned and stretched as he got out of bed. He looked out the window. Outside was a freshly fallen white sheet of snow, much to his delight. He ran over to his window to get a better view, and his face broke out in a wide grin. He hurriedly changed out of his pajamas and put on his hat and coat. He rushed downstairs, and called out, "Jack!"

No answer from Jack, but Mrs. Bennett's head appeared from the kitchen doorway. "Jack just left. He offered to buy groceries for me."

Jamie frowned. "But it's snowing! Why would he want to go run errands for you when he could be out having snowball fights? Not that I'm saying your errands aren't important, but still!"

Mrs. Bennett laughed slightly. "Give him a break. He hasn't been out of the house much except to play with Sophie in the yard. He probably just wants to explore the entire town and see what it's like."

Jamie almost snorted at that, since Jack had actually spent most of his last 300 years in Burgess.

"Jack will play with you and your friends once he gets home and sets down the groceries, okay?"

"Fine," Jamie sighed.

He exited the house.

* * *

"Ooh, so Fifty Shades of Grey's genre is erotica," Jack murmured as he flipped through the book, a plastic bag of groceries slung over one of his arms as he walked down the sidewalk, oblivious to the infatuated stares he was receiving from nearby females. "Heh. My type of genre."

He had borrowed that book from the local library, in order to pass time in Jamie's house. When he saw the title Fifty Shades of Grey and read the summary on the back cover, he couldn't resist checking that one out.

As he neared Jamie's house, he heard a familiar voice, "Just go away and leave us alone."

"Pippa?" Jack wondered under his breath, recognizing the voice to be of Jamie's close friend.

"Why? I'm just saying, Santa is a total myth. You guys are eleven years old and you should be lucky I'm giving you a heads-up before you end up being a whole bunch of weirdos with no friends except for each other." Whoever was speaking was definitely not anyone Jack had heard before.

"He's real. If you just came here to make fun of us, you've got another thing coming." It was Jamie speaking this time. What the heck was going on?

"Who the hell do you think you're talking to? Respect your elders, kiddo, if you know what's good for you."

Jack turned around the bend that led to the park (where he assumed the voices were coming from), and was just in time to see a boy that should've been around his age shove none other than Jamie Bennett down to the snowy ground.

Jack's eyes widened, nearly dropping the groceries and book, and, without any form of hesitation, approached the scene. The other boy didn't notice him, but Jamie sure did.

"Jack!" he exclaimed.

The other boy turned around to see Jack standing there. He looked down at him, as he was about a half-head taller than him, and regarded him with contempt. "Are you with these losers, kid?"

Jack crossed his arms. "Kid? I'm no kid. I'm a full-fledged 18-year-old," he replied, growing increasingly irritated. "And what's up with you calling them losers? They're only in their first year of middle school."

The other boy snorted, ignoring the last part of what Jack said to him. "Eighteen years old? That's impossible. I'm 18, too, and I'm like, way bigger than you."

"Oh, come on! He's 300 years older than you, for crying out loud!" Caleb, one of the twins, piped up. "He's Jack Frost! And he can freeze your butt to the ground whenever he wants to– Mmph!"

Jamie had shoved a handful of snow into Caleb's mouth to shut him up (Jack reminded himself to thank him later). "Not now!" he hissed.

The boy guffawed. "Jack Frost?! That old, grumpy, winter guy who goes nipping at other people's noses when it's cold out?! You think he's real, too?! Who's next, the Easter Bunny?!"

Jack was becoming more and more agitated by the second. He really couldn't get why everyone thought Jack Frost was older than he really was. "Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and Jack Frost are all real," he said, before he could stop himself.

The boy turned back to him. "'They're all real,'" he mimicked Jack. "Yeah, and I'm a tangerine."

Jack shrugged. "Okay, you're a tangerine. That means I can eat you, right? I hope I can, considering that you annoy me," he smirked. He clearly had picked up on the other boy's sarcasm, being a sarcastic fellow himself, but he just had to seize the opportunity to start what would possibly escalate into a physical fight.

The other boy growled and his hands balled up into fists. "Watch your mouth before I ruin that pretty face of yours!"

"Oh, so you think my face is pretty? I'll take that as a compliment, so thank you," Jack grinned wryly. "You know, your face is pretty, too. Well, it would be if you didn't waste your sad life picking on kids almost 8 years younger than you."

"What the – Seriously, watch it!" the other boy was practically shouting by now. The dispute had drawn quite a few nearby onlookers. "Midget!"

Jack's grin immediately dropped (Not that the grin was genuine in the first place, but still). "_Midget_? Okay, so you want me to watch _my_ mouth, which I can but I just don't want to, while your mouth just stays like that? Hate to break it to ya, but your mouth ain't exactly a Gary-Stu either! In fact, I think it's already at the point where someone _else_ has to watch it for you, considering that you aren't self-aware enough to watch it yourself!"

At that moment, Jack felt a sharp jab right under his eye, and he fell on his butt, really dropping the stuff he was carrying this time. Once he recovered, his hand immediately reached for the place where the hit was taken. He could already feel it swelling up, and there definitely was going to be a black eye to deal with. Jamie and his friends just watched in shock, while the small crowd that had gathered murmured to each other, saying something about how teenage boys nowadays were so violent. Jack disbelievingly looked up at the other boy, who smirked and rubbed his fist. He was about ready to turn to go, but Jack got up, fury boiling inside of him, and the former winter spirit threw a blow back, and a large crack sound was heard.

Jack shook the hand he used to punch with. "Your nose is hard," he said dismissively. "That's understandable. I'm sure your entire head is just the same."

The other boy would've drawled a retort back, or maybe even punched Jack in the gut, but he decided not to, as he had tremendous amounts of blood gushing out of his nose.

Jack sighed and picked up the things he dropped. "Jamie, do you want to go home?" He didn't wait for an answer though; he immediately pushed his way through the small crowd and headed in the direction of the Bennett home.

Jamie, having had enough of being outdoors for the rest of the day, despite it still being morning, decided to follow him. "Bye, guys," he told his friends. He picked his hat, which had fallen off when he was shoved to the ground, up and he went off after Jack. "Jack, wait up!"

Jamie hurried to catch up to him. Jack stopped for a moment to let him do so, and once the younger boy was next to him, he resumed walking, only slower this time.

"Do you think I went too far?" he finally asked Jamie.

Jamie looked at him, confused. "Huh? What do you mean?"

Jack looked at Jamie as if the 11-year-old had just asked him what his favorite season was. "Uh, I _broke_ the guy's nose. I mean, sure, he hit me first, but all he gave me was a bruise to the eye. I gave him a...crack to the nose."

"Oh, no, Samson totally got what he deserved just now. He's been a huge bully for years, and it's about time someone did something back." Seeing the look on Jack's face, he quickly added, "It's not just me and my friends. It's pretty much every kid and teen in the neighborhood."

"Yeah, but still..." Jack sighed once more as they neared Jamie's house. "I'm probably gonna have some problems with him in high school..."

They both went up the front steps and went indoors. They simultaneously paused at what they saw. An old man and woman were sitting on the couch playing classic card games.

Jamie reacted first. "Grandpa Joe! Grandma Mary! What are you doing here?!"

Mrs. Bennett came in from the kitchen. "Boys, Grandpa Joe and Grandma Mary are staying over till New Year's."

"Like I said, why don't you ever say these things beforehand?!" Jack exasperatedly said.

"Hm?" Jamie's mother seemed to notice Jack's bruise only then. "Oh my! Jack! What happened to your eye?"

"That's a story I'd rather not talk about," Jack groaned. "I'm gonna go clean my eye. Be back in a sec."

He went to the bathroom.

"So... How are you two?" Jamie attempted to make conversation.

"Same as usual, same as usual," Joe curtly replied.

"My, Jamie, you've grown so much since we have last seen you!" Mary exclaimed, pleased with her grandson.

"Actually, the last I saw you was last year, and I was only like 3 inches shorter back then," Jamie replied. "But thanks, I guess."

His grandparents, mostly Joe, weren't very talkative, to say the least.

Jack exited the bathroom and came back into the living room. He had done his best to comb his bangs down to cover up his bad eye, though to no avail; his hair wasn't long enough.

Jamie's grandparents must not have noticed Jack before, because Grandma Mary started cooing, "Who's this, Jane? He's adorable, and quite the catcher."

Jack, for some reason, never could get used to adult women gushing over him, so he looked slightly taken aback. As for Mrs. Bennett, she simply laughed.

"This is Jack Overland. I told you about him, remember, Mom?"

Mary seemed to think for a bit. "Hm, nope, I can't say I recall that."

Joe, whose face was already etched into a frown from the beginning, seemed to grow even unhappier. Jack never really understood why until Jamie told him the reason later that night.

* * *

"Your grandfather doesn't seem to like me very much."

Jamie looked up at Jack's voice. "Nope, he doesn't," he agreed. "Probably because my grandmother has a creepy crush on you."

Jack was flipping through Fifty Shades of Grey again while lying on the couch, and he almost dropped the book again when he heard that. "She... She what now?"

Jamie sighed. "I know. My grandmother's weird when it comes to men. And Grandpa Joe is easily jealous."

"Can't blame him, considering his wife actually goes as far as to crush on a guy who's like, 40 years younger than her," Jack mumbled.

"You're technically 250 years older than her."

"Yeah, physically. But I'm eternally young. At least, when I'm immortal. And I'll get my powers back soon enough, so I'm not aging any time soon."

Jamie sipped his fruit juice through a straw while pretending to listen to Jack's tirade about becoming Jack Frost again and regaining the power to bring snow.

"Are you even listening?"

"Huh? Uh, yeah," Jamie lied. He called to his mom, who was washing the dishes in the kitchen. "Hey, mom, can me, Jack, and Soph stay up extra late tonight? I want to see Santa."

"Sure. Jack, make sure Jamie and Sophie are in bed right after, okay?" Jamie's mother's head appeared and she winked at Jack.

"Uh, sure."

"And also, one more thing, Jamie's grandparents are going to stay in your room for the time being. Jamie, you wouldn't mind sharing your room with Jack, would you?"

That was irksome for both boys. Jack was annoyed at how an old couple stole his room and Jamie just wasn't too used to sharing his.

* * *

Jack, Sophie, and Jamie were all sitting side by side on the bottom of the staircase. Jack must have dozed off, because the next thing he knew, he was being shaken awake.

"Jack? Jack! Wake up!"

Jack opened his eyes, still half-asleep. "Hmm? What?" he grumbled groggily. It took him a minute to realize who had woken him. "Oh, hey, North."

"Jack, are you okay?"

Jack stifled a yawn. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just...tired."

Bunnymund, Tooth, and Sandy were also there. The sole female Guardian fluttered over to Jack and pried open his mouth. "Your teeth may have sparkled for the last 300 years, Jack, but one thing about humans is that you need to floss regularly and brush your teeth two to three times a day. Preferably three." She took her fingers out of Jack's mouth, and once she wasn't so focused on his teeth, she gasped. "Jack! Your eye! What happened?!"

"Samson Fisher punched him," Jamie piped up. Jack had forgotten he was there.

North's eyes darkened. "Ah, yes, I remember Samson. Was always on naughty list every year. It is shame that this influences those around him. Like his cousin."

"Who's his cousin?" Jack asked.

"Scott Kimberly. Little Scott was always nearing the top of nice list, but ever since last year, he drew Samson's influence and became the way he is now – Jack, why are you looking at me like that?"

Jack's mouth was hanging open. "Scott Kimberly is Samson's cousin?!" He paused for a second. "...That explains so much."

North sighed. "And now Scott is neither on nice or naughty list, now that Samson has convinced him that I am not real."

"He smacked Spencer Anderson in the groin the other day... Just so you know," Jack informed.

Bunnymund did a poor job at biting back a snort. He wasn't talking much; he was just there to see Sophie.

"Oh, yes, I remember Spencer and his brother as well. They were good children... Well, Spencer was. Zander made his way on to naughty list a few times, but he was never permanently on there. If Scott ever makes it to list again, I will make sure he gets naughty one."

Tooth seemed to be inspecting Jack's eye closely, poking the area around it gently. "Jack, are you sure you're okay?"

Jack half-heartedly pushed her hand away. "Yeah, don't worry about me. I cracked the dude's nose in return."

There was silence until North laughed and gave Jack a spine-breaking hit on the back. "HAHA! That's my boy!"

Jack rubbed his back and replied, "Uh, yeah, I meant to hurt him, but I wasn't exactly aiming to break his nose. It just sorta happened. You could hear the crack and there was blood oozing its way out and–"

Sandy made a throat-cut gesture and motioned to Tooth, who seemed slightly dizzy at Jack's imagery.

"...Sorry," Jack finally said cautiously.

Tooth shook her head. "No, it's fine. We should probably go now though. Come on, guys."

She opened the front door and flew out, followed by Sandy.

"Merry Christmas, lil' anklebiter," Bunnymund told Sophie. "I'll be sure to see ya on Easter."

Sophie responded by clinging onto his leg, and it took quite some effort for Bunnymund to pry her off and leave the house. Not that he wanted to leave her so soon.

"Presents are under Christmas tree," North told Jamie. "And no, you cannot open any of them until morning."

Jamie frowned. "Aw!"

North was about to leave but stopped at the doorway. He took something out of his coat pocket and tossed it to Jack, who caught it. "Special present for you."

Jack, once he recognized North's "present" for him, just said, "You know, you could've at least put a bow on it."

"I could have not given you anything at all," North replied, giving Jack a knowing glance, and he left.

Jamie looked at what North had given Jack and remarked, "I didn't know Santa made phones to give out."

Jack shrugged and inspected his iPhone 5. "There's probably that occasional teen who still believes in Santa and yet has outgrown toy trains and stuffed animals. Maybe the old man knows more about children than he lets on."

* * *

Jamie stared in wonder at his Hot Wheels track the next morning. "I always wanted this! I don't get how Santa does this stuff without reading our minds or something!"

Jack chuckled and looked at Sophie, who was playing with a brand-new stuffed bunny, complete with buttons for eyes. He was sure the thing was going to be worn out by the end of winter, courtesy of the little girl's adorable carelessness.

"I'm gonna go fetch the newspaper. Be right back," he said, and he went out the front door.

Ten seconds later, he came back in, rolled-up newspaper in one hand, with his other hand clutching his groin. When Jamie shot him a questioning look, he just simply explained in a moody voice, "Scott Kimberly was passing by on his bike. When I had my back turned, he got off, went up to me, and kicked me. I swear, the boy seriously has a groin fetish."

Oh yeah, Scott was so getting snow piled on top of his house once he got his powers back. Same for Samson for making Scott the way he was.

**A couple of you people suggested to me ideas for what I should do with Scott. A guest reviewer who goes by the name of 'dude' suggested Scott kicking Jack where the sun don't shine and Sassy Shota suggested Scott getting a pile of snow on top of his house when Jack gets his powers back, so you could thank those two for letting me come up with the ending of this chapter LOL. And SkyHighFan suggested Jack pranking Scott to teach him about being naughty. I'm considering the snow-pile-on-top-of-house a prank already so I'm not too sure if I should make Jack lead a separate prank... Time to hear you reviewers' opinions again. ;)**

**I made Jack a fan of Fifty Shades, but in reality, I know just as much about Fifty Shades as I know about Twilight. And if you read my author's note at the end of the third chapter, I said that I've neither read or seen Twilight.**

**Anyway, I'm pretty sure most of you hate Samson more than you hate Scott (By the way, a lot of you hated Scott, but wanted me to bring him back just for the sake of funniness) now, considering that he gave Jack a black eye. As for Jack breaking his nose in return, I'm actually making a reference to this accident that happened with Chris Pine on Star Trek: They were filming this fight scene, and Chris accidentally nailed this stunt guy in the nose, and on The Ellen Show, he described it as, 'You could actually hear the crack, and there was blood coming out...' Uh huh. Almost exactly how Jack described it to his fellow Guardians.**

**...Okay, okay, seriously. I just looked up 'Chris Pine breaks nose' on Google and this is what I found: "There's a big fight scene in a bar with me and five stunt guys, who were the best in the business. I'm a little guy and they were big, honking monsters but I actually ended up breaking the nose of one of them. It wasn't like a full-on punch, but everyone's hands were going so fast and I just tagged him. We stopped filming and I felt really bad. But the guy was like, 'Don't worry about it.' Then, in the next shot, one of them hit me in the stomach by accident and knocked the wind out of me. It was stuntman payback. But it was fun."**

**...Did I just make an even bigger reference? In this chapter, I said that Samson would've punched Jack in the stomach if his nose wasn't broken, and here, Chris got jabbed in the stomach later on during filming Star Trek. Lolwut.**

**And on Perez Hilton's blog, it says that Chris is interested in starring in a Fifty Shades of Grey film. ...All of these references between Chris and Jack are NOT intentional. Except for the nose-break one.**

**One last thing before my Boba-rant ends. There's a new poll on my profile, asking if I should make Jack bi. ...What?! Stop looking at your computer screen like that! -cough- Anyway, VOTE.**

**Please review!**


	8. In Which Jack Meets Cici

**Just read. Don't ask, just read. Everything I have to say will be down at the bottom.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians. Those Dreamworks people are so damn lucky.**

The Bennett grandparents had left on Monday, and Jack had spent the night watching the rest of the Twilight Saga, and had stayed up until one in the morning. Needless to say, he wasn't very willing to get out of bed before noon. He eventually woke up (though still half-asleep) at 2 in the afternoon, and groggily went into the kitchen to make breakfast/lunch/an afternoon snack. He was in the middle of drinking eggnog in the living room while watching this really old soap opera (In his defense, he still had yet to become fully conscious) when Mrs. Bennett and both of her children came in through the front door.

"Oh, Jack, you're awake," Mrs. Bennett glanced at him, mildly surprised.

"And watching soap operas," Jamie snickered.

"And drinking eggnog!" Sophie eyed Jack's tempting eggnog with longing.

Jack looked at the family blankly and then turned back to the TV screen.

Mrs. Bennett rolled her eyes in a playful manner and told Jamie before she took Sophie to the kitchen, "Bring him back to Earth, will you, Jamie?"

Jamie picked up a magazine on the coffee table, went over to Jack, and slapped it across his face.

"AI!" Jack yelped, suddenly fully aware of his surroundings. "Oh. Hey, Jamie."

"Yeah. Hey," Jamie smirked.

Jack held his eggnog out to Jamie. "Want some?"

"No thanks. Me, Soph, and Mom already chowed at McDonald's for lunch," Jamie grinned. "When'd you wake up?"

"Like, 20 minutes ago. Why?"

Jamie sighed. "I just knew that Mom shouldn't have let you stay up all night watching movies about werewolves and vampires."

"Your mom is more laid back than you are," Jack deadpanned. "Anyway, where were you guys?"

"Buying school stuff for you. It was the last day for the Christmas sale at the mall."

Of course. It was so like Jack to be stupid enough to forget that he didn't even have a backpack until now.

The doorbell rang and Jack went to get it. When he opened the door, he saw Zander and Spencer, both carrying one pair of ice skates each.

"Hey, nice black eye," Spencer joked once he saw Jack.

"Nice groin injury," Jack snapped in return, not in the mood to have his facial flaw pointed out.

Spencer held up his hands in defense. "You know, having a rock tossed at your groin really hurts. Don't make light of it."

Jack sighed. "I know. On Christmas morning, Scott kicked me in the groin."

Zander snickered. "I'm positive he only did that because you broke his cousin's nose."

Jack almost doubled over. "You guys know about that?!"

"Duh. Everyone does. The news about two guys getting into a fistfight in the park spread around pretty quickly."

"It wasn't really a fistfight. Only one punch was delivered from each side..." Jack muttered. "Anyway, why are you here?"

"We wanted to invite you to go ice skating with us at the new ice skating rink downtown," Spencer smiled.

"It just had its grand opening last weekend, and it's already packed with skaters," Zander added.

Jack, however, was unimpressed. "Why would I want to go to the other side of town to skate in a rink when there's a perfectly good frosted up lake in the woods nearby?"

"'Cause the rink's safer...?" Zander replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You never know when the lake's ice isn't thick enough, and if it isn't, it'll break right under you and you'll drown if you don't know how to swim good enough."

_Yeah_, Jack thought dryly. _I learned that lesson the hard way 300 years ago. _

"I actually heard from Mom that actually happened once, like, way back then in the colonial times," Spencer looked at his brother. "This guy who was around our age drowned in the lake and they never found his body."

"Eerie. Maybe the fish ate his corpse," Zander remarked.

"Uh, from what I know, there are only small fish in the lake. I don't think they could decompose a body completely before someone goes down to look for it," Jack interjected. _Oh yeah. They are so talking about me._

"Fine, then what's your theory on what happened, genius?" Zander asked caustically.

"The Moon decided to resurrect him," Jack said, before he could help himself. Crap. Oh well. It's not like they would figure it out.

Zander snorted. "The moon's not even alive."

"Ever heard of the Man in the Moon?"

"First Santa, then the Easter Bunny, and now this?"

Jack rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Sure, I'll go to the rink with you two." He looked down at his typical hoodie and pants, which were now worn as pajamas. "Just let me change first."

He went to his room, and came out a few minutes later. He was carrying a pair of ice skates in one hand and his other hand was pulling down on the beanie on his head. "'Kay, I'm ready. Let's go."

"Good. Do you mind riding in the backseat of Zander's car? I already called shotgun."

Jack looked at Zander's Galant parked at the curb of the Bennett house. "I didn't know you owned a car."

Zander shrugged. "Eh. That's only 'cause the places I usually go to are close by, so I just walk. Spencer here doesn't even have his license yet."

"Why not?"

"During my driving test, I may have hit a puppy and its owner..." Spencer chuckled guiltily as Jack gave him a horrified look. "Anyway, Zander, you owe me 5 bucks."

"Ah, crud," Zander groaned. "I was hoping you would forget about that. I already owe you $10 for losing that bet on whether or not the world was gonna end."

"Wait, I'm lost. What'd you bet on to make Zander owe you $5?" Jack asked Spencer as he was getting into the car.

"Whether or not someone would answer the doorbell this time."

* * *

The first impression Jack got of the rink was that it was huge. It was four times bigger than the rink, and, as Zander had claimed, it was crowded and the three boys had to wait in line for a few minutes to buy tickets.

"Zander! Spencer! Over here!" a girl called happily to them once they were on the ice. She skated over to them.

"Cici!" Zander grinned, while Spencer's face flushed. He hid himself behind Jack, earning an eyebrow-raised look from the latter.

"You must be Jack. I've heard so much about you! Especially about how you broke Samson Fisher's nose. Poor you! You've got a black eye to suffer from."

Cici's enthusiasm and outgoing personality instantly reminded Jack of Tooth.

"So what're you doing here?" Zander asked her. "I thought you had work at Starbucks."

"My boss gave me the day off," Cici giggled as she played with her long blonde hair, which was tied up into a high ponytail. "So I came to check out the new ice skating rink."

"Hey, Cici!" one of Cici's friends called out to her. "Get back here!"

"I have to go now, guys. It was nice meeting you, Jack. Bye!" Cici then skated away.

"Spencer, get out from behind Jack and suck it up," Zander said once she was gone.

Spencer did so, his eyes on Cici's distant figure.

"What was that all about?" Jack questioned.

"Little Spencey here has a huge crush on Cici," Zander grinned as Spencer's face turned even redder.

"Zander! Shut up! She's standing right there!"

* * *

On the drive home, Zander had stopped halfway and announced that he was hungry, so all three of them stopped at a Starbucks (the same Starbucks Cici worked at) near the park. Zander ordered this banana chocolate chip coffee cake, Spencer a blueberry scone, and Jack a simple blueberry muffin. The twins got lattes while Jack got hot chocolate (It was actually pretty good since he didn't have warmth-phobia anymore).

They were all seated at a table next to the giant glass wall that cut them off from the outside world. Bored, Jack gazed at the white landscape while the twins got sucked into a heated debate about something called Gangnam Style. For some reason, Jack had a feeling that they wouldn't expect him to not know what that was, so he kept his mouth shut. He reminded himself to look it up once he got home.

Suddenly, a snowball was thrown in their direction, hitting the glass barrier that separated indoors from outdoors. Jack looked outside, curious to who was the thrower. He eventually spotted Jamie, who was waving and grinning at him. Smirking and completely forgetting his food, he immediately ran outside, scooped up a snowball, and threw it back. It hit Jamie spot on, and once the younger boy recovered, his grin turned mischievous and evil. He put two fingers into his mouth and whistled; Cupcake, Pippa, Claude, Caleb, and Monty all appeared out of nowhere and started pelting Jack with snowballs. Jack was laughing so hard, he was at the brink of tears. He desperately tried to shield himself from the countless snowballs, but to no avail. When the kids all stopped to catch their breath, Jack, sensing his chance, started making and throwing a bunch of snowballs at superhuman speed, never pausing once.

"I think hanging out with Bennett and his friends has contaminated his brain to go back into 11-year-old mode," Zander said flatly, as he and Spencer watched the fight from inside.

"It's really been a while since we were part of snowball fights." Spencer winced once he noticed that none of Jack's snowballs were complete misses; all of them were at least grazing one of the children. "I don't know how he does that. I would really hate to be against him. Those poor kids..."

"I think he forgot all about the guys who took him out today in the first place."

As if on cue, Jack looked their way, and, still grinning, he went inside again. "Hey, guys, come on! It's a perfect day for snowballs!"

"Uh, no thanks," Spencer declined. "I'd rather stay inside, where it's warm."

"And me and Spencer have kinda outgrown snowball fights," Zander added.

Jack's smile faded briefly, but immediately came back. "Suit yourself," he said, shrugging dismissively.

He ran back outside, but he couldn't help but think to himself, _And I thought I was able to instill fun into everyone..._

* * *

"Oh my god, that was so much fun!" Jamie laughed as he and Jack entered the house.

Jack grinned. "You said it. Zander and Spencer were being a pair of killjoys though. I can't believe those two can sit through all that fun and think it's childish."

"But childish is fun!"

"Exactly!"

They went to Jack's room and sat down on the bed. Jack's new phone was on his bedside table, and he picked it up to see if he had any missed calls. He saw he had one text message, and frowned.

"What's the problem?" Jamie looked over.

"I have this text message. There's just this red square where it's supposed to say who it's from."

"It's probably just one of those annoying spam messages. You should just delete it."

"Wait..." Jack opened the message, and this was what it said:

**Hello, Jack! Do you like your new phone? :D**

**-North**

"..."

"What's the matter?" Jamie looked again, and burst out laughing. "Santa sent you a text?! I didn't know he had a phone!"

Jack ignored him, and called North back. Several rings were heard before St. Nick finally answered in his heavy Russian accent.

"Jack, is something wrong? Has anything happened?"

"No, nothing's happened," Jack eased North's panic, albeit in a flat voice.

"Oh. Well, can you call back later? I am a bit busy right now."

"This'll only take a sec. I saw that I had a text. From _you_."

"Ah, yes. So, _do _you like your phone?" North asked, completely missing what Jack was getting at.

Jack frowned, even though he knew that North couldn't see him. "No! I mean, yes! I meant no as in 'No, that's not what I meant!' Why are you in my contacts?! Why is there a red square where your name is supposed to be?! Why do you even have a phone?!"

"I cannot answer all those questions at once, Jack," was North's simple reply.

If looks could kill, Jack's phone would've been reduced to smithereens at that moment.

"But I will try to do so. All of Guardians have phone and have each other as contacts."

"Why?"

"To keep in touch, of course. Do not forget that there is immortality monster out there."

Right. Jack wasn't going to say it out loud, but he admitted in the back of his mind that he kind of did forget the weight of his situation. "Okay, so why are you represented by this random red square thing?"

"These things are extremely private, so our identities are hidden by certain symbols, in case someone looks over shoulder or something. I am red square, Bunny is green triangle, Tooth is purple diamond, and Sandy is yellow circle."

"And what am I?"

"Blue hexagon."

"...Why am I a hexagon? I've always hated hexagons."

"Jack, please, this is not good time to say that."

"Right. Sorry. Wait, one last thing: Why are we using phones when we could be using something more... Guardian-worthy?"

"I did that for you," North said, with slight weariness in his voice. "You teenagers are always on your phones now, and if I used something more 'Guardian-worthy,' then that will make you look strange, no?"

_I think Zander and Spencer already think I'm strange, _was what Jack wanted to say back, but instead, he said, "Fine, you have a point."

"I know I do. Plus, you can still use it as a normal phone if you wish. One thing though, don't call Bunny unless if you are sure that he is not in the Warren. Because he is underground, his phone will be glitchy."

"Right. Thanks. I'll stop disturbing you from whatever you're doing now, alright?"

Once he hung up, he turned to the still-oblivious Jamie and sighed, "I should've known better than to think he actually gave me a normal phone."

**Okay, this AN is gonna have a lot of important stuff that needs to be said. So prepare yourselves.**

**First off, I don't know how many times I need to say this, but Jack and Christine are not a couple. It's just a one-sided crush. Seriously, I know some people don't bother reading author's notes, but my author's notes can carry some important information at times, so please start reading what's written in bold (Though the people I'm addressing right now probably aren't even reading this). I don't enjoy having to say the same stuff every other chapter. Thanks for hearing me nag, guys. I appreciate it.**

**Two, I...somehow knew that I wasn't going to get a lot of people to say yes on making Jack bi... Darn. But I wasn't going to make him get together with another guy or anything like that. Though Hatsu Yukiya pointed something out to me: Everyone is bi when it comes to fandoms, with all the slash pairings and whatnot. Very excellent point made there.**

**Third, you guys are probably expecting the first day of school chapter to be the next one, because I said so two chapters ago. But then, in the middle of typing this, I thought up something... Would you guys enjoy one more chapter of winter break fun, where Jamie's family and Jack go on vacation? If you guys don't want any more filler chapters for now, I won't make another one and I'll skip right ahead to the school chapter.**

**And, if any of you don't know, the symbols North uses for their phones are the actual symbols used to represent each Guardian. I'm sure most of you are aware of that already though, so I don't even get why I'm talking about this.**

**Also, on a side note, I forgot to tell you guys the last chapter, but I was on vacation for the last three days. I finished this thing yesterday, and I would've uploaded it using the copy-and-paste method, but Internet was down. On the bright side, I was at the Grand Canyon, and Jack Frost paid a visit. And I can swear that the frost on the car's windshield in the morning had similar patterns to Jack's own frost (The fact that my dad had to buy one of those mini-snow shovel things to scrub off all the ice is completely beside the point). :D As a Californian, I have absolutely no experience with snow, so I was pretty hyper. And on the way home earlier today, in San Bernardino, it was hailing. Lolwut. **

**I will love you guys forever if you review. And I hope all of you have had a wonderful Christmas (if you celebrate it)!**


	9. In Which Jack Finally Goes to School

**Disclaimer: If I owned Rise of the Guardians, would I seriously be wandering around on FanFiction?**

The next week had passed without a hitch, and the day that came right after was the day Jack was dreading to come. He was definitely not ready. Oh, so not ready.

During the walk to school, Jack was spazzing out to a very weary-looking Jamie. "What am I gonna do once I get there? What do I say to people? What if nobody likes me?"

Jamie gave him an annoyed side-glance. "Just be yourself. And you're _Jack Frost_. When did you start caring whether or not somebody likes you?"

"Just because I used to be the spirit of the coldest season of the year does not mean that I have no feelings," Jack huffed. "But... I don't know. I don't think I've ever felt so nervous before in any of my lives. I have no idea what the heck is wrong with me. I'm not even sure if I'll make it to the end of the day..."

"Don't worry, it's natural. Monty came here a few years ago, and he was so jittery when I first talked to him, it was like he was gonna pee his pants," Jamie grinned at the memory.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Kinda."

"It's not working then! Now I'm paranoid that I'm gonna pee my pants!"

"Unlike Monty, I'm sure your bladder is under your complete control," Jamie said flatly. "Don't people gain more bladder control when they grow older? You're 318 years old."

"Excuse me, but from what I know, you've never transferred schools!" Jack retorted, growing more frantic by the second.

"That's true. But seriously, you're stressing out over nothing," Jamie said, not even looking as he pressed the crosswalk button that led to the middle school.

"Has anyone ever told you that you suck at making former winter spirits feel better?" Jack asked sarcastically as the light turned green.

"Considering that nobody has ever seen me make a former winter spirit feel better – Whoa, wait a minute, why are you following me?" Jamie stopped walking across the street when he realized that Jack was right behind him.

"Huh?"

"My school is on the other side of the street. Your school is back there on the side of the street we just came from," Jamie motioned to the gigantic building of the high school.

Oh yeah. Dumb moment for Jack. "See what I mean?! This is what stress does to me! It makes me stupid!" he insisted, as he went back.

Jamie grinned and didn't give a reply. He simply finished crossing the street and waved at Jack.

"...Evil, little boy," Jack muttered under his breath. "Has no idea how I feel."

He turned around to face the tall building looming over him. It was now or never. He took a deep breath and walked in. He was greeted by the sight of a long hallway filled with countless rows of lockers on both walls. He looked at the small half-sheet of paper in his hand, which was his schedule, that also had his locker number on it.

"Locker number 7209..." he mumbled, strolling down the halls. He was aware of many loitering students looking at him. It made him feel uncomfortable, but he really couldn't help but mentally roll his eyes. He really couldn't tell why people liked to stare at him. He didn't really stand out. Externally, at least.

He found his locker, and, entering the combination, he successfully opened it. It was a little dusty, but it was generally in good condition. He had his history class first, so he took out all his other books and staff (He had brought it along to school because it made him feel reassured) and put them away. When he closed his locker and turned around to head to class, he found himself face-to-face with none other than the Anderson twins.

"Ah!" He retreated in surprise and his back hit the locker. "Don't do that!"

Zander frowned. "Do what?"

"Never mind," Jack sighed, recovering. "How'd you guys find me so fast?"

"We were right behind you when you came in, so we followed you," Spencer slightly smiled, as if he didn't just sound like a creeper.

"And you're wearing that hoodie," Zander remarked, looking at Jack's blue, signature hoodie.

"Uh, yeah, I thought that Mrs. Bennett would wash my clothes for me, but it turns out that she expects me to do it myself. So basically, this is my only clean shirt left," Jack waved it off dismissively. "Besides, I'm wearing what you guys deem as 'normal pants.'"

"How does your hoodie stay so clean when you wear that most of the time at home, while all your other shirts get dirty?" Zander questioned.

Jack shrugged. "I dunno."

Spencer coughed. "Anyway, what are your classes?"

Jack squinted at the tiny imprinting on his schedule. "Uh, American History Honors for first period, PE for second, Physics for third, then it's Geometry, then it's English 1 Honors, and I have Performing Arts last."

"Huh, so you really do have performance art class with us," Zander started to comment. "...Wait, geometry?" He snorted. "Dude, you suck."

"I'm sorry, but math was never my best subject," Jack snapped. "And anyway, Mr. Kaka did end up getting my classes spot on... Except for Physics. I think that level's a bit too high for me." He wasn't too sure what the physics class talked about, but he had a feeling that it relied on atoms and Newton's laws of motion. Mostly stuff that was discovered _after_ he became immortal.

The bell rang, and many students hurried off to their first classes of the day. Spencer grabbed Jack's arm and proceeded to drag him off to one direction. "Come on, you have history class with me." He turned to Zander. "We'll see you at lunch."

History class turned out to be on the second floor, and once they reached room 226, Spencer motioned for Jack to wait outside the door. "Wait out here till the teacher calls you in and introduces you to the class."

"And I'm supposed to do that for every class I have for the rest of the day?" Jack was not willing to walk into a total of 6 classes in front of all his classmates as if he didn't get to school on time.

"Uh, yeah. Don't worry, the whole thing will only take about 30 seconds."

"I don't care how long it takes! I only care about how this'll be embarrassing!"

Spencer shrugged. "Sorry, can't help you with that."

He walked into the room, leaving a sulking Jack standing outside. A few minutes later, the late bell rang. Jack took a few deep breaths to calm his beating heart, then pulled the hood over his head. He pulled it down just enough to cover his eyes from the outside world, but not enough for him to actually not be able to see.

"We have a new student today," he heard the teacher say and then call out to him. "You can come on in now!"

Jack took one final deep breath and walked in, both of his hands tugging at his hood, as if he was trying to pull it down a little more. He could feel the countless number of eyes on him. For some reason, he knew that Spencer was face-palming at the moment.

He stopped and turned to face the rest of the class, hood still covering his face.

"Mr. Overland, take off your hood," the teacher finally said, once she realized that Jack wasn't about to say anything anytime soon.

Jack did so, and he almost immediately wished he didn't, because now he could see everyone else staring at him. Or more specifically, the guys were looking at him blankly while the girls were practically swooning for some reason. Spencer was just whistling quietly to himself innocently.

Jack turned to the teacher and blinked, not knowing what to do. The teacher exasperatedly said, "Say something."

"Uh, hi, I'm Jack. Jack Overland. Can I sit down now?"

Spencer really did face-palm this time.

The teacher, surprised that Jack was being so curt, just said, "Sure... There's an empty seat in the back."

The moment Jack sat down was the moment Spencer sneezed loudly. He covered his nose and mouth, raised his hand, and asked the teacher, "Mrs. Beemer, may I go get a tissue?"

Mrs. Beemer gave him an eye roll. "No, I'd rather have you sit there with snot running down your face."

Jack bit back a snort, while Spencer gave him a look that just plain screamed, _At least I was nice enough to ask._

* * *

PE was next. Jack didn't know that he was supposed to change into the uniform in front of everyone else, so he definitely felt violated when he found out that he was supposed to strip down in public. Once he was out of the locker room and into the gym, he shuddered. This wasn't something he could live down. _Ever_.

Coach Pregger announced that they would be continuing their dodgeball unit, and he split the class up into two large teams.

"Overland, you're on Celine Sanders' team."

Celine Sanders? Jack looked around until he felt something grab his shoulder from behind, making him jump. He turned around to face a grinning Cici... Wait, she's Celine?

"You're the team captain?" he asked.

"Yep," Cici affirmed, still grinning. "Our team's better than the other one, so you got lucky."

"Are you just saying that because it's your team?" Jack deadpanned.

"What? No! I happen to be an expert when it comes to dodgeball," Cici held up her nose haughtily. "And now we'll be even better, now that you're coming into the picture."

"How do you know whether or not I'll be good at dodgeball?"

"My boss at Starbucks told me how quote 'a guy hanging out with Zander and Spencer last week had a huge snowball fight with a bunch of kids and won in a landslide,'" Cici explained. "Dodgeball is pretty much the same thing. Except we don't use snowballs."

"Uh, okay."

"Come on, have confidence! We'll pummel the other team!" An evil glint appeared in Cici's eyes.

Cici and Jack's team did end up "pummeling" the other team – or more like Cici and Jack did. Their teammates ended up striking out one by one, and in the end, Cici and Jack were the only ones left. Cici playfully challenged Jack to see who could hit more opponents, and that was what spurred Jack on. Both of them were on a roll, and it was almost an exact repeat of what went down with Jack and Jamie and friends.

The game wrapped up fairly quickly, and Coach Pregger decided to organize the game to be boys against girls, because "having both of the best players on the same team was unfair." Jack was tempted to retort that life in general wasn't fair – he had more than enough experience to prove that – but he consented instead. Again, the last two players standing were Cici and Jack. The last 20 minutes or so of playtime were spent with Cici and Jack tossing a plethora of balls at each other, trying to knock the other out of the game, and the rest of the class, including the teacher, watched, cheering for either the boy or the girl (though neither of them won by the end of class).

* * *

_Science._ Jack hated the word, but he hated the subject even more. _Especially _when it came to physics. And now, Jack had one more reason to hate his third period class: Samson Fisher was in it. Jack was already grateful that he wasn't unlucky enough to end up sitting next to him, but sitting a few rows in front didn't prevent the intense glare burning into his back from reaching him.

* * *

Jack had no idea why karma was cruel enough to have him take his second least favorite class right after his first. Sitting through math was the even more awkward than sitting through Jamie and his father trying to converse with each other, because the entire class was supposed to work in pairs with the person next to them to do a project. Jack was sitting next to a boy named Cody, and Cody wasn't very cooperative. To be exact, he spent most of the class time staring intensely at Jack, and the latter found it hard to concentrate, so they barely got anything done.

Jack was just glad lunch was next.

* * *

"I hate this already."

Those were the first words to come out of Jack's mouth once he got to the lunch table Zander and Spencer were sitting at.

"What'd I tell you?" Zander looked smug.

"That seniors get all the drama. Yeah, I remember that. But there's no drama yet, just...awkwardness."

"It's just first-day-of-school trauma. It'll be gone by the end of the week," Spencer assured. "And just out of curiosity, what kind of awkwardness?"

"Samson has physics with me and the guy who sits next to me in math creeps me out."

"Who's he?"

"This dude named Cody."

"That explains it then. Cody Gay's antisocial," Zander indifferently said.

"...What'd you say his last name was?"

"Gay. G-A-Y."

"We know what you're thinking right now," Spencer intervened before Jack could ask the obvious question. "Not a very normal last name, is it? Cody was a transfer student a few years back like you are, and he was pretty dark and quiet ever since day one. And 2 years ago, Samson spread a rumor around saying that he's like that because he's gay. He doesn't really think that though. He's just making fun of Cody's last name."

Jack really started feeling even more animosity for Samson after that spiel. "Do you guys think he's gay?"

"Only Cody would know for sure," was all Zander said. "But if you want an official answer, no."

"Wait, so Cody has no friends?"

"Nope. It's not that nobody has ever tried, it's just that Cody's attitude kind of...makes him unbefriendable. Not like that's a real word, but you get what I mean."

Something landed hard on Jack's shoulder again, and, like before, Jack jumped. He turned around to face Cici. "Stop doing that! I've been through a lot today!"

Cici shrugged. "Sorry," she said, not really apologetic. "Anyway, nice game of dodgeball this morning." She paused. "But I'll beat you next time!"

Jack smirked. "We'll see... Celine."

"Quiet, you. Call me Cici."

"Whatever you say, Celine."

"Okay, now that's the type of attitude that made Samson punch you. Anyway, I gotta go. Bye."

"Right. See ya..."

Cici started to walk off, and Jack called out just loud enough for her to hear, "Celine!"

She shot daggers at him before exiting the cafeteria. Jack turned back to the twins. Spencer suddenly seemed to find his food a lot more interesting, while Zander was watching him with feral amusement.

"So you have PE with her..." Spencer mumbled quietly, poking at his food with his fork.

"Yeah... Don't think I was trying to make a move on her or anything just now. We were just playing dodgeball, and she's the only one in the class who's competent enough for me."

"Oh yeah, Cici's got quick reflexes. Probably stems from being a cheerleader," Zander mused.

"She's a cheerleader?"

"Yup. There's a football game coming up in a week, so maybe you could come if you have free time. Spencer will obviously be there," Zander smirked.

Spencer's face turned pink. "Shut up!"

* * *

In English class, Jack's seat was next to a redheaded guy named Anton. Jack noticed that Anton was also in his history and PE class, and he wasn't so sure how he felt about that. Throughout the day, Anton had been sending him dirty looks. He had no idea what he had against him, but he wasn't about to ask. He just crossed his fingers that the dude wasn't as bad as Samson.

* * *

Jack was almost relieved to hear the bell ring, signaling that fifth period was over. Anton had been giving him a particularly long dirty look, so he wanted nothing more but to get out of there. At lunch, Zander and Spencer had told him that having performance art class as the last class of the day was like taking a hot bath after standing out in the snow with nothing but a T-shirt and shorts on for an hour. Jack was still slightly weary of warmth, so he wasn't positively sure what to make of that comparison, though he assumed that it wasn't anything bad.

Once he walked into his sixth class, he immediately started staring. There were chairs to sit in, but there weren't any desks other than the teacher's desk in the corner. Also, the room was twice as big as the others.

"Sup, Newbie?" Zander greeted, as he and Spencer walked up to him.

"Where are the friggin' tables?"

"There aren't any," Spencer shrugged.

"Then what do we do for the entire hour?!"

Zander gave an exasperated sigh, not in a patient mood. "Isn't it obvious? Performance art. Didn't Christine give you the 411 during Christmas dinner?"

"And you expect me to remember everything she said to me? I just remember something about acting, singing, dancing, makeup, switching around, and a huge class."

"Yeah, that's pretty much what it's about. So, which section do you wanna join?"

Jack thought for a second. There was no way he was getting himself involved in makeup and he wasn't too confident in his singing abilities (Not that he's ever tried). He personally thought that he could handle dance, but he wasn't about to risk the possibility of becoming a ballerina. "Acting," he finally said. He wasn't particularly fond of that one either, but it was at least better than the other three.

A certain redhead walked into the room. Seeing Jack, he sent him one more dirty look before moving to take a seat.

Jack really couldn't believe it. "That guy's been following me around all day! What the freak!"

"Who, you mean Anton?" Spencer asked.

"No, I mean the Muffin Man," Jack said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Yes, I mean Anton! He's in my history, PE, _and_ English class! I don't need to get a fourth class stuck with him!"

"That's karma for you. You have no choice but to suffer its bitchiness," Zander said.

"Okay, thanks, that just made me feel_ so _much better."

"What's with you and Anton?" Spencer questioned.

"I don't know – I have absolutely no problem with him, but he kept on giving me glares the entire day. He just doesn't like me for some reason."

"Of course he doesn't. Did you know that he's Samson's best friend?"

That was all it took for Jack to drop all hopes that Anton wouldn't be as terrible as Samson. At least he had a decent explanation for Anton's dislike for him now. "Let me guess, mad that I broke his best friend's nose?"

"That, and also the fact that you managed to win over more than half the girls here, and only on your first day of school," Spencer shrugged.

"What...does that have to do with anything?"

"Anton is a little...full of himself," Spencer struggled to find the right words. "He's pretty much the only guy here who actually enjoys girls' attention. And he gets _a lot_ of attention, so that just encourages him to think of himself as the greatest person in the world."

Jack, failing to out two and two together, simply raised one eyebrow. "And?"

Zander exhaled in frustration. "You're his competition. You have the potential to steal his fans and suck-up cronies."

It took a moment for Jack to figure out what that meant for Anton. "Oh... That's so dumb."

"Yeah, to us. But to him, it's everything important he ever cared about," Zander replied.

"An absolute narcissist," Spencer agreed.

* * *

School was finally over, and the three boys were walking out of the school. Jack, to say the least, was distressed.

"It's only my first day of school, and the teacher already says that we're gonna have to participate in a performance at the middle school?!"

"Dude, chill. It's in a month and a half. And it's not anyone's fault that you came here in the middle of the school year," Zander said flatly.

"And don't worry, it'll be fun," Spencer insisted.

"Easy for you to say! I get stage fright easily! We're talking about a play in front of all the kids in middle school!"

"Don't forget about the singing and dancing performances," Spencer piped up. "In my opinion, the play is less stressful than those. Remember, you can sign up for the one you want to contribute in. And we haven't exactly come up with a plot for the play yet."

Jack would've replied if his phone didn't ring. He took it out and looked at the caller ID, seeing that it was from Jamie's mom.

"Hey, what's up?" he answered.

"Jack, I'm with Mrs. Lee at the hospital visiting her mom. Would you mind picking Sophie up from daycare for me?"

Jack blinked. "Uh, sure, I don't mind at all."

"Great, thanks. I'll leave it to you then."

After hanging up, Jack turned to the twins. "Sorry, guys. Gotta go." He hurried off.

Zander and Spencer just stood there for a few moments, before Zander remarked, "He didn't tell us that he got a phone."

* * *

When Jack arrived at the daycare, he immediately noticed Sophie waiting outside at the tiny playground, waiting for her mother to pick her up. He was about to call out to her, until Scott Kimberly approached on his tricycle and purposely bumped into Sophie with it. She fell over and started bawling.

"What the hell?" Jack muttered under his breath, and went over. "What'd you go and do that for?"

"She was in my way," was Scott's casual reply.

"You could've went around her! Or at least tell her to move."

"Nah, I didn't feel like it. What's it to you?" Scott shot back.

"He's a big meanie-head!" Sophie whined to Jack.

"Quit your crying. It was your fault that you were standing there," Samson, who had followed Scott, grumbled.

Jack looked at him disbelievingly. "You're taking your cousin's side? You don't find him bullying a younger girl extremely wrong in every way?!"

"She's gonna have to deal with this kind of stuff later in her life at some point, so what difference does it make, pipsqueak?"

_Son of a– _Jack gripped his staff even tighter, hooked it around Samson's neck, and yanked the boy down so he was at his height. "Listen to me, 'cause I'm only gonna say this once," he said darkly through clenched teeth. "I let your idiot cousin kick down her snowman, I let him throw rocks at me and my friends, I let him endanger Spencer's ability to have children in his future, and I even let him kick me in between the legs, but I'm putting my foot down right now. You and him better leave Sophie alone, or I'm gonna–"

"You'll what? Break my nose again?" Samson retorted.

Jack jerked his staff even harder. "Not only will _both _your noses be broken, but I will personally make sure that you die of hypothermia and your heads will be set as trophies in my room, and your bodies will be shredded up and fed to the sharks, so nobody will ever know what happened to you for at least the next eleven years." He deviously smirked and let go of Samson. "Come on, Soph. Let's go." He picked Sophie up and walked away, an aura with a sinister intent left lingering in the air.

* * *

"So, play ideas. What do we have so far?"

Spencer looked up at Zander, the asker of the question. He flipped open his notebook and found the page that had a list of prompts. "We could do the classic stuff, like Snow White or Sleeping Beauty. But I heard that middle schoolers are really into spy stuff as well–"

"Whoa, wait, shut up for a minute here," Zander interrupted, staring at something outside the window at Golden Spoon. Or rather, someone. He was staring at this teenage girl who looked like a life-sized version of Barbie. She had long, brown hair that reached her waist and her face was caked with makeup. Her pink nails looked like they had just gone through a fresh manicure.

Spencer followed Zander's line of sight and looked at the girl. "Zander, I know she stands out from the crowd, but there's no need to stare at her–"

"Idiot, look closer. Who does she look like?"

Spencer squinted at the girl for a few seconds, and once realization hit, he turned a little green. "Please tell me that I'm hallucinating when I say that she looks like Jack."

"I was hoping that I was the one imagining things."

"Oh god... What is Jack _doing_, looking like that?"

The girl had walked into Golden Spoon and ordered her ice cream during their exchange, and she had noticed the twins whispering and looking at her. She huffed in irritation and went over to them. "Um, like, excuse me, but can you, like, not stare at me?" she said rudely in a high-pitched voice and a strong Valley girl accent.

"Uh, right, sure," Zander said. "But seriously, what are you doing dressed like that? And what happened to your voice? The last time I checked, you had already hit puberty."

The girl scoffed and flipped her hair. "I'm, like, clearly a girl. I don't, like, go through, like, puberty."

"What are you, some kind of male prostitute?"

The girl inhaled sharply and stamped her foot. "I'm, like, so not a prostitute! I'm a, like, virgin!"

Jack suddenly passed by the window, giving Sophie a piggyback ride. He saw Zander and Spencer inside, and he grinned and waved at them (He momentarily looked at the female look-a-like of him, and his face grew slightly creeped out, but he kept his cool). He disappeared again, leaving Zander and Spencer speechless.

"Okay," Spencer began slowly, turning back to the girl. "Who are you?"

"Jill Underhill. Who'd you, like, think I was?"

"That's not important," Spencer said quickly. "Anyway, we should go, right, Zander?"

"Oh yeah, we really should," Zander agreed.

They both picked up their stuff and left the ice cream shop. They exchanged looks with one another, clearly trading the same message: _Let's never speak of this again._

**All of us know Jill Underhill, don't we? She's the human alter ego of Jill Flame, and her voice actor is Christina Elm. ;P**

**Anyway, that last part was pure crack. I have no idea why I wanted to include that in here, but I really couldn't resist. Jill will most likely not be appearing again anytime soon.**

**Anyway, this is the school chapter. A couple of people didn't want another filler, which is kind of a good thing, since the more I thought about it, the less inspiration I had for a vacation filler.**

**So, drama should be coming in pretty soon. I swear, I have so many ideas for this fanfic that it's hard to keep track of all of them. To prevent myself from forgetting any of them, I'll put a list down below at the bottom of this author's note. I'll try to keep the list spoiler-free, in case someone who doesn't want any spoilers accidentally reads it or something (Although a few chapters ago, I already promised you guys with a Jack with wild hormones). But this is for my own personal memory, so you don't have to read it if you don't want to.**

**And all the major OC's are finally at least introduced. There will probably be a couple more OC's, but they'll only be minor ones.**

**I'm pretty sure at least one of you know who Hatsu Yukiya is. For those of you that don't, she's this amazing author who is more than worthy of your reading time. She has this fanfic called To Have a Home, and I find it way better than my own stuff, so check hers out. ...Wow, this seriously marks the first time I advertise something that isn't my own.**

**And, uh, I need help with the image cover of Powerless Guardian. I feel like I should set a cover for this, but... I'm brain-dead. If anyone has any ideas they're willing to give me, or even a cover they won't mind making for me, feel free to do so.**

**Review!**

**Okay, listing time! If you don't want to see this, turn away now. Not all of these necessarily apply to Jack.**

**...Ready? Okay. (This thing is gonna end up being at least 30 chapters long...)**

–**Crush/Hormones**

–**Gossip**

–**Self-hate **

–**Backstabbing**

–**Attack**

–**Suicide attempt**

–**Physical fight (It shouldn't be too hard to figure out which two characters will be having this)**

–**Villains**

–**Play at middle school**

–**Cici and Spencer**

–**Lots and **_**lots **_**and **_**LOTS**_** of character development**


	10. In Which Jack Decides Fridays Suck

**Okay, so I deleted that extra chapter I put up yesterday, at the request of RUHLSAR000, because she said it 'hurts the story.' My New Year's resolution is to be less evil, so I consented. But anyway, I'm going to put it up as a separate one-shot instead, because I PUT THOUGHT INTO AN EARLY 2013 PRESENT. -cough- And some people, namely storygirl99210, Lady Xzephyr of Helven, TinyRules, SkyHighFan, and a few others (You know who you are) did actually like it. The rest of you were actually pretty disturbed (I love all you chickens :D), but I'll have you know that Jack murdering Samson and Scott isn't half as disturbing as this one-shot I read once... It wasn't Rise of the Guardians or anything, but it was about this girl whose crush is dating her best friend, and on Valentine's Day, she goes insane, her skin starts itching like crazy and discovers there are **_**maggots **_**in her blood, goes on a killing spree (The victims included her best friend that was dating her crush, her other friend, and her rival [who was a bitch, so I didn't miss her too much]. Sadly, her crush didn't die), and eventually dies of suffocation because the maggots have infiltrated her lungs. If anyone's interested in this one-shot, say so in your review and I'll PM you with the link. You don't need to be familiar with the fandom in order to get the story. And I swear, reading that fanfic was what ruined my innocence around horror stories. Despite that, it was pretty good.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians.**

_One particular blob of darkness stood on the edge of the North Pole. It had no face, but a menacing snarl was almost visible somewhere in that abyssal mess of nothing. It faced the very palace where Santa Claus resided in. That boy had to be in there. It had no skepticism about it. Slowly, its shapeless structure morphed into a completely different form, a perfectly solid embodiment. A malicious grin played at the lips of its current face. Nobody would be expecting this..._

"Cheerleading rehearsal?"

Zander nodded, as Spencer simply sat, chugging his chocolate milk. "Yeah. Didn't you say you wanted to go see Cici cheer? They're having one final rehearsal today after school before the football game on Monday."

"Uh, you just told me that she was a cheerleader, and said maybe I could go. I never said I actually wanted to go," Jack corrected.

"Are you going to come or not?" Zander asked, not amused.

Jack shrugged. "Eh, sure. Got nothing better to do, so I guess I could make it."

* * *

"Fisher!"

Samson rolled his eyes. "What now, Chou?"

"The deadline for finishing the next issue of the school newspaper is Monday afternoon, so we can have them ready by Friday," Erik Chou frowned, not liking Samson's attitude towards him. "And we're short one story."

Samson raised an eyebrow. "Okay? And?"

"I want you to go out and find a nice, juicy story!" Erik snapped, losing his patience. "You've done almost nothing during the first semester of school, and you're lucky that I haven't kicked you off the team yet!"

"Fine then, Oh Great President of the Newspaper Team," Samson replied caustically, completely unfazed. "What should I write about?"

"I heard that a new student transferred here this semester. Maybe do an interview with him?" Erik suggested in a much calmer tone. "Find out what it's like for him to suddenly come here."

Obviously, Erik was talking about Jack, and there was no way in hell that Samson would ever interview him out of all people. "Why him?" Samson didn't even try to hide his chagrin.

"I never said that you had to do that," Erik retorted defensively. "Furthermore, I don't see why you don't seem happy with the idea. If you have anything better in your mind, go ahead and do it your way. Just make sure it's a good one."

After Erik left, Samson frowned to himself. _Those damn Asians. _The last thing he wanted to do was to have involvement with that damn stupid Overland, but it wasn't like he had a choice.

But wait.

Erik suggested writing something about the new student, but honestly, he couldn't care less if Samson ended up making something up at the last minute, so long as there was a story. Samson smirked. Oh yeah, that was exactly what he was going to do. Not only that, but he was going to make sure that it was going to be about Jack.

* * *

He watched her. His eyes just couldn't keep off of her every movement as he sat on the bleachers. Every somersault, every backflip, every split was simply amazing. She was the cheerleading captain, and she showed pride in that position. She barked orders to her fellow cheerleaders on what needed to be improved, and she wasn't afraid to hold back on harsh criticism, often claiming that she was the only one who deserved to be the true leader in cheerleading. Sure, it made her seem incredibly catty and narcissistic, but in Jack's eyes, it meant that she was forward with what she had to say, and wasn't afraid to know what others thought of her, considering that she was receiving malicious glares from the other girls, calling her a bitch under their breath. Whether or not she heard it, Jack wasn't sure, but it was obvious that she noticed the negative looks they were shooting at her, though she ignored them; she didn't care about the possible consequences her sharp tongue had to face. And to Jack, he found that headstrong attitude rather attractive and intriguing.

However, Zander and Spencer seemed to disagree, because Zander rolled his eyes every time she looked in their direction and Spencer seemed to slightly stiffen up whenever Cici was the victim of her insulting remarks. Also, Zander shot multiple suspicious glances at Jack during the practice, not that the latter even noticed.

Once the 30-minute rehearsal was over, Zander immediately turned on Jack. "You like her, don't you?"

Jack snapped out of his dazed trance and looked blankly at the irritable teen. "What?"

Zander exhaled exasperatedly. "You do like her."

A small blush made its way onto Jack's face. "N-No! Uh, I mean, I so do not."

"Yes you do!" Zander pointed an accusing finger at Jack. "Face it, you've got the hots for her!"

Jack frowned. "I don't, and even if I did, why do you even care so much?!"

"'Cause it's just wrong for you to crush on that little cunt out of all people! You don't even know her!"

"You can't control who I like and don't like! Why are you getting so worked up about her?! What's wrong with her?"

"'Cause I've–"

"Um..." Spencer shifted awkwardly, a very confused Cici, already changed back into her regular clothes, staring at the scene.

"Right," Zander sighed. "Just forget it."

Jack's frown grew deeper. "You were the one who–"

"I said _forget it!_" Zander said in such a forceful tone, Jack was frozen in shock for a second. Zander whirled around and stormed out of the gym, his face contorted into a scowl.

Spencer rubbed his temples and then turned to Jack. "Sorry about that. He'll be fine the next time you see him though." He hurried off after his brother.

"What was that all about?" Jack finally regained his composure.

Cici shrugged. "I don't know. What were you guys arguing about?"

"Whether or not I had a crush on the cheerleading captain," Jack sighed, then added in defense, "Which I _don't_."

Cici blinked. "Oh. I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but I kind of have to agree with him. I did see you staring at Ariel during most of practice."

"Oh, so that's her name," Jack mused quietly to himself before replying, "Just because I look at her doesn't mean I like her."

"True," Cici agreed. "But you were staring at her with these googly eyes." She did her best impression of what Jack's expression was for the past half hour, which, in Jack's eyes, was actually quite creepy and scarring.

"Okay, first off, there is no way that I was making that exact face," he denied. "And two, don't make that face ever again."

"You were too making that face," Cici persisted. "Why else do you think Ariel kept on looking at you three?"

Jack almost had a heart attack once he heard that. Now he knew how Christine felt. "_What?!_"

"Aha!" Cici triumphantly exclaimed. "If you really didn't like her, you wouldn't have gotten so worked up!"

"What the–" It took a moment for Jack to regain his composure, but once he did, he scowled. "Cici!"

Cici smiled innocently, but quickly added, "It's true though. She really was looking at you constantly during practice."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"Right," Cici smiled, now that the boy didn't have something to back him up. "Anyway, I'm going to go now. What about you?"

Jack shook his head. "Nah, I think I'll stay here for a minute or two. It's the first time I've been in here."

He was glad that Cici didn't question why he found the gym so intriguing, because he wasn't exactly telling the truth. As much as he would try to deny it, he was actually considering that maybe she and Zander were right, and he needed to get his head straight on that. This was actually the first time _possibly_ crushing on a girl (He was still clinging onto that manly bachelor pride of his, reluctant to let it go). He sat in the bleachers for a few minutes, which really didn't help clear his head. Sighing, he got up to leave, and opened the gym door. Stepping outside, he veered to the left, only to almost collide into another person.

"Oh my god, sorry–" Jack abruptly stopped once he recognized the other person.

Anton narrowed his cold, brown eyes at Jack, making the former winter spirit fidget. "Jack Overland."

"Anton." The tension in the air was almost tangible, and Jack looked for words to say. "What are you doing here?"

"It's none of your business." The sharp reply was expected, yet it still managed to catch Jack off guard.

"Well, I'm just asking–"

"I'm not giving up." This sudden statement took Jack aback even further. "I've seen people like you before, and every time, I manage to bring them down. We're not friends, Overland, and we never will be. So–" Anton's left arm suddenly shot out (His right hand was holding onto one of those huge cameras that people used for paparazzi and such), and his finger pointed dangerously at Jack in between the eyes, almost causing the speechless boy to go cross-eyed. "–Quit acting friendly with me. _I won't lose to someone like you._"

* * *

Jack sighed. It was only the Friday of his first week at school, and he was just so relieved that he had a weekend for relaxation, even though it was only for 2 days. Once he went inside the house, he went straight to his temporary room. He made a mental plan to nap for an hour or two, and then do his homework, just to get some peace and quiet...

"AHA!" North's booming voice laughed once Jack entered his room. "Jack! I was wondering when you would be back!"

"..." Jack fell silent for a few seconds, and once he regained his voice, he deadpanned, "I don't get why you always have to barge in here, but what I don't get even more is why I keep on being surprised that you're here. Are the other three here?" He opened the closet door to see if Tooth was going to spring out and start checking up on his perfect teeth.

"No, they are not," North waved his hand flippantly. "Tooth is at Tooth Palace, Bunny is at Warren, and Sandy is just roaming clouds."

Jack blinked. "Oh, okay. 'Cause you know, you guys never came on your own before. Why this time?"

The cheeriness in North's eyes disappeared at that moment, and his face darkened. "They are doing their best to protect everything they hold dear to right now. Tooth has teeth, Bunny has eggs, and Sandy is watching out for dreams of children."

"They always have those responsibilities, and yet, they still paid visits," Jack pointed out, not catching on. "Did something happen?"

"Jack..." North sighed. "Immo came to workshop today."

Jack's brows furrowed as he felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. He had a pretty good idea on who this "Immo" was, but just to make sure, he asked, "Who?"

"Immortality monster. See, saying 'immortality monster' is tiring because name is so long, so I shortened it down to Immo."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Can't you just say Monster?"

North frowned and crossed his arms. "Bunny said same thing as you. But saying Monster will not specify _which_ monster." Jack opened his mouth to argue back, but was quickly cut off by North. "Enough about this! As I said, Immo paid a visit. He came in and turned workshop upside down looking for you. Luckily, most toys that were in process of making were salvaged, but–"

Jack kept silent, as North gave a detailed description of what happened. Most teens enjoy Fridays for being the end of the week, but honestly, Jack would be surprised if he didn't harbor a vicious grudge against the day of the week if every Friday was going to end up as bad as this one. He had already experienced a weary day at school, but he didn't need a certain monster attacking the North Pole workshop on top of all that.

"Is there anything else about what 'Immo' was doing?" he asked suddenly, putting air quotes around "Immo," and also interrupting North, who was in the midst of complaining about how one of his most precious prototypes had been reduced to smithereens during the ambush.

"Oh yes, I almost forgot to tell you. Immo now knows how to control ice like you."

Okay, that was unexpected. First off, how did North manage to forget to bring that up earlier? Second, _what?_

"He has taken your powers, so he is now the current wielder of them," North answered the unasked question. "Also, when he attacked workshop, he was..." He trailed off for a moment, not sure if he should add on to the boy's distress, but he decided to go along anyway. "He looked like you." Jack's eyes widened even more, and his continuous speechlessness was taken as a chance for North to keep going. "It is like DNA replication, if that is what it is called. Stealing your powers also means he can imitate you in any way."

Jack chose to finally start speaking. "How did this... You could tell it wasn't me who trashed your place though, right?"

"If answer was no, would I be here telling you this right now? I admit I thought you had somehow regained powers when Immo came in, but I knew it was not you when I noticed that eyes were pure black."

Jack sat down on his bed and put his face in his hands. "Oh my god... Anything else?"

"No." North wished he could sympathize with Jack, but he knew that wasn't going to help ease the younger spirit's disturbance. "I will have to get back to work. My reindeer are getting antsy waiting for me outside."

Jack sighed and got up. "Right. I'm gonna go out to the backyard to feed my cat. See ya." He walked out of the room.

North didn't recall anything about Jack owning a pet cat, but he disregarded it. He stood still for a second, until a tiny squeak chipped the silence. A small, feathery head popped out from behind North. The man sighed.

"He is quite strong, no? Poor boy must deal with so much, and yet, he has not broken down crying, which is what most people would have done by now." He looked at Baby Tooth. "Your mother wants you to look after Jack, okay? If anything happens to him, report back immediately."

Baby Tooth chirped and saluted. She fluttered out of the room to find Jack, and North sighed again before exiting out the window. _Hopefully, things will turn positive soon._

Oh, if only he knew.

**Updating after almost 2 weeks with no updates from me... -whistles while people throw rotten tomatoes at me and miss-**

**I hope this chapter is satisfactory for you guys, though I don't think this is my best one.**

**Also, remember that list at the end of last chapter? Yeah, I forgot to add a few more on to that:**

–**Wild party**

–**Broken leg (and revenge for it)**

–**Mrs. Bennett**

–**Part-time job**

–**About halfway through this chapter, I got paranoid that Cici might end up being a Mary-Sue, so I thought something up for her. And it's a **_**good one.**_** ...You're not getting anything from me. Nice try.**

–**I think I'm forgetting something. Dammit, stupid memory.**

**Okay, like I said, my extra failed, so I've published it as a whole new story. I'm going to retry writing an extra for Powerless Guardian though (And don't worry, there's no killing involved), and I guess it could be one of those things that fill in the missing gaps? Like that whole Grandpa Joe and Grandma Mary thing. I didn't exactly specify on what happened during their visit...**

**I said I was going to reply to all questions asked this chapter, so guess what? Reply time! And a lot of you mentioned Jack's new friends finding out about his identity... Hm. ;P**

**storygirl99210: THANK YOU. Zander and Spencer's reactions will be confidential until it actually occurs (possibly). :P**

**Hatsu Yukiya: You're welcome! An immortality-sucking monster came into play this chapter. Sorta. I'm actually quite excited to write that– Wait, what am I saying?! BAD BOBA.**

**AnderzzJackson: You're asking me if Jack's crush will be based off of me? ...LOL No, she's not anything like me, unless if being a two-faced skank is anything like me. And I'm pretty sure I'm not...hopefully...**

**Hana-chan111: You are going home (if you're not already in your house) with the official Longest Review Award. LOL Just had to say that, since the Golden Globes Awards are tomorrow, and I'm watching to see if RoTG is gonna win Best Animated. Anyway, no, Cody is not gay. Just...misunderstood. If he was actually gay, I wouldn't have made his last name Gay, 'cause doing that would be...encouraging assumptions about mysterious people, if you get what I mean. The Jack Overland/Jill Underhill naming thing was completely intentional, if you haven't figured that out already. XD And now the answer to the most important question of all: Your sister should try going to school and making friends, 'cause you'll never know if you don't try. It's never too late to gain some social experience. I understand if you're nervous, because I used to be the shyest girl ever when I was little, but things will get more natural once you get used to it. ...Oh crap. I just realized that the second semester must've most likely started already for you, huh? SHIIIIIIIIIT. -headdesk for stupidity- Well... -chuckles nervously- Did your sister transfer in? ...I'M SORRY.**

**nodoby: 'uh...good job?' What is that supposed to mean?! D:**

**Dude: Don't worry, Jack's not the one whose going to try to kill himself. :P I just picture Jack being oblivious to girls crushing on him. Clever yet dense. ;D And I suppose Samson and the twins just didn't care about the staff since they already think he's weird, and aren't surprised with anything about him anymore? I just wanted Jack to carry his staff around wherever he goes. Didn't really think that through too thoroughly.**

**likhitata: Yes, I thought up Jack's unique threat myself. XD Thank you!**

**nimbi-piru: Guess what? I listened to your advice, and Baby Tooth has made her official debut in this story. :D I thought it was a great idea to have someone keep their eye on Jack, so I went ahead with it. Thank you!**

**Ducks R Evil: Sorry, but it's going to be a while before Jack turns immortal again. I'll try my best to not make this into a soap opera, but obviously, judging from the list, a lot of things are going to happen.**

**StarStreakedSky: ...Dammit, you guys are not making this 'Jack is bi' thing easy for me. D: Okay, how about I just **_**imply**_** he's bi? Will that be good enough?**

**Guest: 'Are all immortals bi?' LOL Good point.**

**SecretWriter: Your name is Celine? Cool. :D**

**Thank you to everyone else who has reviewed! I love you all! Now review again! :D**


	11. In Which Jack Speaks Italian

**Negative side: Alright, anyone care to tell me who was the bastard/bitch who decided that Brave deserved that Golden Globe title more than Rise of the Guardians did?**

**Positive side: Hey, you've never even watched Brave... It must have been pretty good if it won that award.**

**Negative side: People need to pay attention to Rise of the Guardians more. Please tell me I'm not the only one disappointed over this.**

**Positive side: At least it was nominated... The Oscar nominations are out and they didn't even bat an eye at the awesomeness of the Guardians. And at least Les Misérables won.**

**Negative side: Shut up.**

**Positive side: Okay...**

**And those, dear readers, are my pro and con sides duking it out on the Golden Globes letting me down. I watched that show just to see if RoTG would win, and I was even crossing my fingers when they were about to announce it. I mean, I'm sure Brave was awesome, since so many people liked it, but... You can't blame me.**

**After thinking about it for many hours, I finally decided to make Jack bi...**

**...lingual. Bilingual. Psych. ;P**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians.**

Jack woke up on Saturday morning with a huge weight on his shoulders. The revelation of Immo's attack on the North Pole only seemed to hit him full on, despite the worry and concern he had felt the day prior. The immortality barbarian obviously was going to stop by either the Tooth Palace or the Warren next to search for him, and he couldn't help but wonder what was going to become of Tooth and Bunnymund. Hopefully, with their defenses higher than ever, they won't have their respective places trashed as severely as North's.

But still, he couldn't help but wonder why Immo was taking so long with everything. He had been stuck here before Christmas, and it was now the eleventh of January. Why did it wait a whole month before finally going to ambush the North Pole? Was it purposefully taking its time, knowing that Jack was helpless? Did it think that Jack would lose, no matter what and when? Jack scowled at the thought. _Helpless. _As much as he hated to admit it, he was powerless at the moment, and Immo had every right to rub it in his face.

Deciding that he needed to blow off some steam, he sighed and got up out of bed. He went to the bathroom to have a shower, and unbeknownst to him, Baby Tooth squeaked weakly and flew back to his bedroom, her face as red as a tomato.

* * *

Jack finished his shower around fifteen minutes later, and exited with all his clothes on (Baby Tooth wasn't sure if she should've been relieved or disappointed), unlike last time, which had resulted in being violated by three of his fellow Guardians. It had become pretty obvious that North, Tooth, Bunnymund, and Sandy all liked to enter his room without permission. Jack couldn't help but think how hypocritical North was; he frequently yelled at his yetis for not knocking before entering while he himself always popped up unexpectedly.

Entering the living room, he saw Jamie sitting on the couch watching cartoons (or more specifically, that Danny Phantom show), Sophie sitting beside him playing with her stuffed bunny, and their mom reading the daily paper while drinking warm coffee.

"I just think all the hedges in the backyard need to be trimmed and it's about time that old, ugly, dead tree be chopped down..." the woman was saying to her son before noticing Jack. "Oh, Jack. You're up. Good morning."

"Morning," Jack replied back curtly before going into the kitchen to fish for some breakfast in the fridge.

"So what, you want to hire someone to help fix up the yard?" Jamie asked, not taking his eyes off of the TV screen.

"I'm planning to. I don't know anyone though, so I'll have to look through Yellow Pages or something," Mrs. Bennett mused.

Jack's head appeared in the kitchen doorway. "Hey, I could do it. Got nothing better to do anyway."

Mrs. Bennett looked skeptical. "Are you sure? I think it's safer to hire a professional. I'm not doubting your abilities or anything, so no offense."

"None taken," Jack brushed it off. "It can't be that hard." _I'm able to make anything involving frost with my staff, which requires a lot more care than a few leaves and hedge clippers._

"Alright then," Mrs. Bennett gave in. "Just be careful. Everything you should need is in the garage, including hedge clippers and a chainsaw. Again, be careful. _Especially _with the chainsaw."

"Don't worry, I will," Jack reassured. "And I already have a chainsaw in my room, so is it okay if I use that instead?"

Instead of answering, Mrs. Bennett stared at him oddly. Sophie looked equally bemused. Even Jamie, who had lost interest in their conversation, turned off the television to make sure he heard Jack right. "Did... Did you just say that you have a chainsaw in your room?"

"Yeah." Jack blinked, not getting why he was receiving such strange looks.

Jamie spoke the question everyone was asking in their minds. "Why?"

Jack appeared to be thinking back on something. "See, it's a funny story. Last week, I was cleaning out my room, just like how a good guest should, and I was looking under my bed searching for any dust bunnies. Instead, I found a chainsaw and a long chain of shackles," he explained casually.

"Okay, so let me get this straight... You were cleaning your room when you suddenly find a chainsaw and some prison chains – _under your bed, out of all the places to find them _– you have absolutely no idea why they were there, and you don't care?" Jamie recapped, horrified.

"Yeah, that's about it," Jack affirmed. "I did actually kinda freak out when I first found them, but then I was like, 'Psh, whatever,' and so I stopped caring. So, _can _I use it?" he asked again.

Mrs. Bennett sighed. "As long as the blade's not too dull..."

Jack grinned. "Awesome. I'm going now." He went back to his room.

"Mommy..." Sophie mumbled.

Mrs. Bennett sighed again. "I know, honey."

"Mom, what did this place use to be before this house was built?" Jamie questioned. "Was it a prison or a dungeon?"

"If you're curious enough to find out, you could go look it up online or something."

* * *

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. To summarize it up, Jack liked his chainsaw more than he expected he would, so he spent an extra hour out in the yard cutting off unnecessary branches that hung loosely over the fence and into the neighbors' territory. It probably wasn't a good idea to laugh maniacally while doing so, but it wasn't like he cared. The neighbors living next door didn't seem to enjoy the sawing noise as much as he did, because they closed their window curtains and latched all their wooden shutters. From across the street, Spencer and his mom came outside to see what all the ruckus was all about. Mrs. Anderson seemed amused while Spencer eyed Jack's deadly tree weapon cautiously and approached Jack, asking where he got that. When Jack told him where, he mentally made a side note to never enter the Bennett guest room again (Not that he ever kept that promise. He ended up forgetting about it about a week later). When Jack asked where Zander was, Spencer's answer was simply a vague, "Busy." Christine also passed by at one point, but when Jack noticed her, she simply hurried along to wherever she was going. All in all, Jack was quite satisfied once he was finished.

Nothing more could be said about Saturday; simply lunch, some video games with Jamie (Jack was ridiculously terrible with those electronic games, which was exactly the reason why he refused to play them when Jamie first asked. When he gave in, he could only blame the younger boy's puppy dog eyes), dinner, and then some lazying around for the rest of the night. Jack crashed onto his bed at around 11:30, and almost immediately after, Baby Tooth, who was also exhausted from having to frantically dodge Jack's waving chainsaw in order to not have her wings severed from her body, collapsed right next to his lying form and was out within moments.

You could only imagine the surprise on Jack's face when he opened his eyes the next morning, staring right at her. "Baby Tooth?!"

Baby Tooth woke up abruptly at the sound of her name, and realizing that she had been discovered, gave an alarmed chirp and zipped under the guest room bed. Jack got down onto his hands and knees and looked at her. "What are you doing here? Where's Mama Tooth?"

Baby Tooth only shook her head while huddled at a safe distance away from that cursed chainsaw (She would've hidden someplace else if she'd known that Jack had put it back where he had originally found it).

Jack frowned. "She's not here? Come on out, it's dusty down there." He extended a hand out towards her, and without hesitation, she hopped into it. She gave a tiny sneeze at that moment; Jack wasn't kidding when he said it was dusty. Jack took her out from under there and asked, "How long have you been here?"

After thinking for a moment, Baby Tooth held up two fingers.

"Two days? Wasn't North–" Jack was confused for a second before putting two and two together. "Oh wait, did he and the other Guardians send you here to look after me?"

Baby Tooth nodded quickly. She was glad that Jack understood her attempt at an explanation so far. Mere squeaks weren't exactly enough for her to go around being as talkative as her mother.

Jack scoffed. "Wow. They must be really worried about me." He sighed and then gave her a tiny smile. "I must be turning blind if I didn't notice you until now. Maybe I should get my eyes checked."

The door suddenly swung open, and Jack involuntarily closed his fingers around Baby Tooth's body and roughly shoved her into his hoodie pocket.

Mrs. Bennett scanned Jack's room. "Jack, I heard you talking to someone."

Jack subtly cursed his temporary room for being non-soundproof. "I was...practicing this thing we're doing in performance art class. We're supposed to pretend to be someone who is the complete opposite of you. I'm pretending to be Mr. Kaka. He has an imaginary goat friend named Larry, so I'm just...pretending to be talking to him. Hey, Larry, how goes it? How's Mrs. Larry?" he said lamely. That wasn't the best lie he had come up with in his life, but it was the only one in his mind at the moment. He suspected that it was because he had just woken up.

Mrs. Bennett looked a bit weirded out for a moment, but eventually nodded. "Do you want to come downstairs?"

"Sure, in a moment."

Mrs. Bennett closed the door again, and once Jack made sure her footsteps were a safe distance away, he took a not-so-pleased Baby Tooth out of his pocket. "Heh, sorry," he said sheepishly.

Baby Tooth crossed her arms and chirped indignantly. Jack sighed, "I know that I didn't have to do that, since she can't see you and all, but... Bad habit. Anyway, I guess I could use some fairy company. I never thought I'd say this, but everyone I regularly talk to now are humans. And almost all of them are either adults or teens, so you shouldn't worry about being seen by anyone other than Jamie, his friends, and Sophie."

Baby Tooth nodded, soaking that all in. She perched on Jack's shoulder and the teenage boy went downstairs. Jamie and Sophie were at the dining table eating buttered toast while Mrs. Bennett was in the kitchen washing the dishes. Jamie turned to Jack to greet him, but before the words could make their way out of his mouth, his eyes fell on the little bird thing sitting on the older boy's shoulder. His jaw dropped, showing off all the glory of half-chewed bread in his mouth.

"Jamie, eat with your mouth closed," Jack deadpanned.

Jamie closed his mouth, spent two more seconds chewing and swallowing, grabbed Sophie's arm with his left hand (and ignoring her protests that she hadn't finished yet), hoisted her off of the chair, grabbed Jack's arm with his right hand, and dragged both of them into the living room. Once he let go of them, he immediately started attacking Jack with a flurry of questions. "What's that on your shoulder? Isn't that the Tooth Fairy? What happened? Did that monster thing get her too? She turns tiny when she's weakened like this?"

Annoyed greatly at the suggestion of being a 'weak' version of her mother, Baby Tooth flew off from her perch and started pecking at Jamie's forehead with her pointy nose. The eleven-year-old flinched at the jabs. "Hey! Cut that out! That hurts!"

Jack caught Baby Tooth by her wings and put her back into her original place on his shoulder. "This isn't the Tooth Fairy," he explained. "This is one of her helpers. Jamie, Sophie, this is Baby Tooth. Baby Tooth, this is Jamie and his sister, Sophie."

"Hi!" Sophie waved happily.

Jamie also waved. "Hey. Sorry for confusing you to be the actual Tooth Fairy..."

Still irritated, the tiny fairy huffed.

Mrs. Bennett came into view at the dining room doorway, holding a half-eaten piece of toast. "Sophie, you didn't finish your food."

"Sorry! Jamie just wanted to show me something," Sophie hurried off back into the other room, grabbing the toast from her mother's hand along the way.

"Jack, once you're done with breakfast and your shower, would you mind going to the grocery store for me?" Mrs. Bennett asked.

Remembering what happened the last time he went to buy groceries, Jack almost hesitated, but he sucked it up. "Sure."

"Great," Mrs. Bennett smiled. She took out a 5-foot long shopping list she had been concealing behind her back, and Jack immediately regretted agreeing. "Especially remember to buy a couple packages of toilet paper. Jamie has a hugely bad habit of using too much every time."

Jack raised his eyebrows while the younger boy blushed. "It's only seven squares! And why would you go ahead and tell him that?!"

"If he is going to be a guest in this house, he should at least know the answer to why we run out of toilet paper so quickly," Mrs. Bennett's smile grew. She gave Jack the list and disappeared back into the dining room.

While Jack was scanning through the items on the list, Jamie asked, "Do you really wonder why we use up our toilet paper so fast?"

Not looking up, Jack replied, "Depends on if you want the truth or the lie."

"...Lie."

"...No," Jack smirked.

* * *

"Whole-wheat bread..." Jack muttered to himself, pushing a shopping cart down the bread aisle, eyes skimming through the rows of bread. "Why are there so many different types of bread? It'd be so much easier if there were less..."

Not looking where he was going, he accidentally bumped into someone else's cart. "Oh, sorry, I–" His eyes bulged out of their sockets once he saw who it was. "_CHEERLEADER CAPITANA FEMMINA!"_

Ariel Jaleen frowned. "What?"

Jack sighed in his head. Right. The smoothest way to react in front of the girl you possibly liked (He still wasn't going to conclude this anytime soon) was by shouting out "Female cheerleading captain" in Italian. "It's... It's Italian. I accidentally shout it out whenever something surprises me enough." _Shut up, Jack. You're not making yourself look any better._

Ariel narrowed her eyes, as if inspecting him. "Aren't you that guy who watched our cheerleading practice on Friday?" That dashed away all hopes that she wouldn't recognize him.

"Um... Yeah..." Jack really didn't see the point in lying.

"Aren't you one of Celine's friends?"

"She prefers to be called Cici..." was his meek reply.

To his surprise, she smiled. "Great! Are you coming to the actual game tomorrow?"

"Um, I wasn't planning on it, but..."

Ariel's smile wavered. "Wow, that's too bad. I was hoping you would say yes." She sighed. "Oh well, I guess it can't be helped... It's just... This is our first official game in 2013, and we prepared a huge theme for it. It's really special and really different from everything else we've done, and–"

"I'll come."

"Really?" She eyed him. "You said you weren't going to, and I don't want to troubled you in case you have anything else–"

"No, I just wanted to head home and relax, but... If you really want me to come, I guess I could," Jack said cautiously.

Ariel's smile (_Why does it look so charming, DAMMIT!_) came back onto her face. "Alright, if it's really okay, go ahead and come! I'll be looking forward to seeing you there!" She winked and left.

Now if Jack was thinking straight, he would've wondered why Ariel was being so nice to him. If he was thinking straight, he would've flashed back to what Zander had said on Friday. But he wasn't thinking straight. He was just staring at her retreating figure with a goofily dreamy look on his face. Baby Tooth, wondering what was wrong with him, started buzzing around his head to snap him back down to Earth, but to no avail. Running out of patience, she pecked him sharply on the cheek.

"Ow!" Jack yelped, and clutched his cheek, receiving many strange looks from other people passing by. He grinned sheepishly at them and, out of the corner of eye, he gave Baby Tooth a look that said, _Save what you have to say for later._

* * *

In all the commotion with Ariel, Jack almost forgot to stop by the library to return the books Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed. It didn't help how Baby Tooth kept on pestering him about his strange behavior back at the store. Jack, not wanting to say anything just yet, took the headphones he had around his neck and clamped them down onto his ears once he had slipped the two books into the return section near the entrance of the library. He went deep into the aisles full of books, and while in the middle of skimming through the pages of the Twilight: Breaking Dawn book, a very persistent Baby Tooth, keen on getting answers and sick of being ignored, pulled at one of his headphone muffs and let go. Jack shot her an annoyed look. "She's just a girl from school," he whispered, just so she could stop bugging.

She shot him a bored, unconvinced look. He responded by putting a finger to his lips and resumed looking through literature.

* * *

Once Jack got home, he set down the groceries and carried all 10 books he had checked out up to his room so he could get started on reading Les Misérables. It looked like a good book, and from what the librarian told him, it was quite famous. The Anderson twins had also said something about an awesome movie adaptation? Jack contemplated seeing it, if he liked the novel.

He was about to open the door when it someone opened it from the other side. Jack looked down at the bulky girl, who smiled and waved. "Hey, Cupcake."

"Hey. Um, I need to go use your toilet..."

"Huh? Oh, right." Jack moved off to the side. "Sorry." Letting her go do her business, he walked into the room, only to halt at the sight. "Jamie, why are you wearing my hoodie and why are you holding my staff? And what's up with the wig?"

Jamie was wearing Jack's plain blue hoodie, dangling beyond his thighs and the sleeves covering his hands. On top of his head was a white wig, and in his hand was Jack's staff.

"He's pretending to be you," Claude answered for his friend, snickering.

"I dressed up as you for Halloween," Jamie smiled sheepishly, rubbing his head. "I had the wig, but then today, Claude and Caleb wanted to see me in it again, but then I decided to wear your hoodie since it's the real thing and all... You don't mind, right?"

"Why would I mind? This is funny," Jack smirked at how amusing the younger boy looked right now. "You ought to savor these few moments when I'll actually let you wear my shirt and hold my staff, 'cause once I regain my powers, none of you are allowed to even touch either of them."

"Your black eye's gone," Caleb remarked randomly.

"It's been gone for weeks. Anyway, Jamie, if you really want to impersonate me... Try speaking Italian."

Jamie frowned. "What?"

"Italian. You know, the language of Italy."

"I know, I heard what you said. But why?"

Jack shrugged and leaned back against the wall. "I speak fluent Italian."

"Whoa," Monty sat up on the beanbag chair, amazed. "For real?"

"You don't look like you're from Italy," Pippa pointed out.

"_Non c'è bisogno di essere da qualche parte per parlare la loro lingua_," Jack replied smoothly. "That's 'You don't have to be from someplace in order to speak their language' in Italian."

"Hey, I'm back. What'd I miss?" Cupcake walked in.

"Jack Frost knows Italian," Claude informed.

Cupcake looked at Jack incredulously. "Seriously?"

"_Sul serio. _Tooth taught me. I also know a little bit of French, but those gears are a bit rusty since I learned it all the way back during colonial times. Come on, Jamie, I want to hear you speak it. Say 'I am Jack Frost.'"

"...How do you say that?"

"'_Io sono Jack Frost._'"

"Yo sono Jack Frost..."

Jack's smirk grew. "Close enough. I could do this all day; it's hilarious."

"Well it's not hilarious for me!"

"That's what makes it so hilarious."

**YES, I UPDATED. Other than Jack acquainting with Ariel, Jack finding out about Baby Tooth, and the revelation of an Italian-speaking Jack, this chapter was absolutely pointless.**

_**Sul serio **_**= Seriously.**

**Canon: Tooth knows all languages. Headcanon: Tooth teaches Jack on languages, and thus, Italian!Jack was born. Don't ask me where or why I thought this up, 'cause honestly... I don't know either.**

**Also, Hatsu Yukiya allowed me to use her bookworm!Jack. Thank you, girl, and you're awesome. ;D**

**By the way, remember that additional list last chapter, and how I said I felt like I was forgetting something? Yeah, I remember it now: Tattoo. Now before you say anything, I might end up scrapping this one. It was just some kind of random thought that helped itself to my brain. If I do end up not using this one, I'll probably replace it with Eyesight (which is one I thought up in the middle of typing this chapter).**

**If you don't know, that bisexual poll is still on my profile... It has 47 unique voters. Considering that Rise of the Guardians is a popular fandom, I'm not sure if that amount is big or small or somewhere in the middle. But I've never had so many people vote on one of my polls (Again, it might just be the fandom), so... You guys must be interested in this topic of discussion. :P**

**Guest: I personally think that Samson's the only one who's a failure, 'cause without him, Scott would've turned out to be a pretty decent kid.**

**LightMyBulb: That list is interesting because my mind has an interesting train of thought. I'm the one who gave the Guardians phones and made Jack speak Italian. :P**

**Citrine Griffin: ...Well, aren't you sadistic. Believe it or not, I did consider Jack trying to kill himself, but... I don't know. I felt like it suited another character better.**

**Gamma Cavy: If Jack carries through on the hypothermia threat, that would make him a murderer. I really don't think he would sink that low, no matter what, especially since doing so would result in violation of the Guardian rules.**

**StarStreakedSky: I'm sorry, but 46% of the voters want Jack to stay straight, while a mere 31% want Jack to be bi. D:**

**Toni Heart: Yeah, that spoiler is nothing compared to other stuff I have planned for this fanfic. So you're still almost spoiler-free. ;D I KNOW RIGHT. Sigh. I think it would've been more fair if the Golden Globes was one of those award shows where the viewers get to vote. But sadly, it's not. **

**dude: Um, no, there is no other story. You'll see what I mean later on.**

**DownTheRosemaryLane: Well, you never know. Jack **_**does**_** have many sides to him, after all... And I guess turning human again would develop a bigger chance for hormones to flare up, now that he's in contact with human teens again. **

**zaylo267: Cody doesn't have a crush on him. Besides, he's straight.**

**Thanks to everyone else who has reviewed! Now review again!**

**Preview for next chapter: In Which Jack Gets Pimp Slapped. Yes, that is the title of the chapter. No, I will not say why it's named that.**


	12. Extra: In Which Jack Gets Pimp Slapped

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians.**

After North left, Jack fiddled around with his new phone while heading upstairs alongside Jamie, who was sulking over having to wait to open presents. He was usually a patient person, but that didn't mean he liked waiting to do something he loved to do.

Jack, sensing the younger boy's moody aura, said, "It's fine. It's only until morning."

"I know, but it's so not fair how you get your present early!" Jamie retorted as he opened his bedroom door. He paused once his eyes landed on his bed. "...How are you going to sleep? My bed is designed for one person."

"No worries," Jack assured. "I'll just sleep on the floor."

Jamie hesitated. "Really?"

"Yeah." Jack smiled. "I don't mind. Sleeping on your carpet floor is nothing compared to sleeping in trees and on the ground, which I've done a million times."

Jamie looked convinced, at the very least. "Alright then." He got into bed while Jack lied down on the floor, and then turned off the light. "Good night."

"Night."

A few minutes later, when Jamie was just about to fall asleep, a voice pulled him away from dreamland. "Jamie?"

"Yeah, Jack?" Jamie yawned tiredly.

"I think staying in your guest room had affected my sleeping habits a little bit, so I feel less comfortable with sleeping on a hard surface now... Can I squeeze into your bed?"

Jamie probably would've thought about how crammed it would be first before reluctantly agreeing, but he was too exhausted to get his brain to work right. So he simply mumbled, "'Kay..."

"Thanks."

A few seconds later, Jamie suddenly felt a lot more stuffed now that there was an extra person in his bed. He tried to ignore the fact that Jack's freezing feet were making contact with his own smaller ones and how the older boy kept on tossing and turning. Thankfully, he eventually dozed off.

* * *

Jamie's alarm clock suddenly went off, and the eleven-year-old lazily cracked open one eye. He just barely noticed that it was still dark out, and before he could wonder why exactly his clock was sounding in the middle of the night, there was a loud, pounding sound and the clock was silent. Jamie, whose brain was still dead, didn't bother to ask himself what just happened with his alarm, and simply went back into sleep mode.

* * *

He woke up on the floor when morning came along. He blinked twice before recognizing his surroundings. When he realized that he was next to the bed instead of on top of it, he scowled. Jack's fidgeting in bed must have accidentally knocked him over the edge and onto the flooring . With a soft sigh, he sat up, and noticed Jack still sleeping, lying on his stomach. Unsurprisingly enough, one of his arms was limply outstretched as if he had been shoving something.

More like someone, Jamie thought bitterly before starting to shake the teen awake. "Hey, Jack. Wake up."

"Five more minutes..." Jack grumbled so quietly, that Jamie just managed to hear him.

"Oh, come on, it's already..." Jamie looked around for his alarm clock, so he could tell Jack what the time was. "Um... Do you know where my alarm is?"

Jack's reply was a series of murmurs. Jamie, not understanding what he was saying at all, just sighed and shook his head. "Never mind. But seriously, get up. The sun's all the way in the sky now."

As if to prove it, he walked over to the window and opened the curtains. The sun shined brightly into the room, and Jack's only response was to get a pillow and cover his head up with it. Jamie put a palm up to his forehead and sighed for the third time that morning. He swore that if this kept up, he would exhale like this a billion times before nightfall arrived.

Jack tried to fall asleep again, but that stupid sun was keeping him from accomplishing that. With a frustrated groan, he removed the pillow from his head and got up, glaring at Jamie. "Fine, I get it. I'll get up now. Why don't we go downstairs and open presents?"

* * *

After Jack got ambushed by Scott, he went upstairs to shower, and Jamie went to the kitchen to make some buttered toast. However, the younger boy sensed that something was very, very wrong when he heard a shrill scream come from the second floor, and he grew even more confused a moment later when Jack, moving very stiffly, appeared in the kitchen doorway, with a suspiciously red handprint on his left cheek.

"Jamie..." the former winter spirit began, tone eerily calm. "Why does your grandmother not lock the bathroom door when she showers?"

Jamie had to hold back his laughter, while Grandpa Joe, sitting in the dining room, did a spittake with his morning coffee. "You walked in on my naked wife?!"

"I wouldn't have done it if I knew she was in there!"

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking?!"

"Haven't you ever heard of locks?!"

"You can't just expect my sweet Mary to lock the door and not let anyone in! The least you could've done was not stare at her body!"

"Just when did I say I stared?! The last thing I want to do is stare at some old bat's wrinkled, ancient figure! And yet, I still ended up with this angry, nasty mark on my face!" Jack pointed at the handprint. "And now you're yelling at me for accidentally walking in on her shower?!"

Grandpa Joe's face turned red with anger, and Jamie silently thanked the heavens when the doorbell rang. He hurried to get it, and when he opened the door, he saw that it was Claude, Caleb, Kevin, and Monty.

"Hey, Jamie!" Caleb greeted.

"We're here!" Claude announced brilliantly.

"Is something going on in the kitchen?" Monty cautiously looked behind Jamie's shoulder, sensing a very intense atmosphere radiating from the other room.

"You guys are just in time to see Jack and my grandpa have a brawl," Jamie replied flatly.

"You mean your grandpa Joe?" Claude said excitedly. "I have to see this!"

He and Caleb rushed inside and into the kitchen.

Jamie looked at Kevin and Monty. "Are you going to come in?"

Monty pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose. "I-I guess..." he muttered, and went in. Without a word, Kevin entered along with him.

Once they reached the kitchen, Caleb had already gained access to Jamie's house's pantry and was roasting popcorn in the microwave oven, while watching the epic staring contest that was currently going down along with his twin. For Jack and Grandpa Joe's part, the lightning between their eyes was almost palpable. However, once Jack noticed the kids, he immediately broke the gaze, much to the twins' disappointment. "Hey, guys."

"Don't 'Hey guys' us! What are we going to do with all this popcorn now?!" Caleb complained, opening the microwave door and taking out the now-edible popcorn.

Jack looked at it for a second before snatching it away. "I haven't had breakfast yet," was his curt answer.

"Hey, I was the one who popped that!" Claude protested.

"And now I'm the one who's eating it."

Grandpa Joe frowned. "You shouldn't eat anything someone else made without at least thanking them first."

Jack simply ignored him. And he thought Bunnymund was uptight.

"Hey, um, you have a huge, red spot on your cheek..." Monty spoke up, gesturing towards Grandma Mary's little addition to Jack's face.

Jack shot him a "You don't want to know" look.

Claude, recognizing what was the thing on his cheek, immediately started snickering. "Alright, who slapped you?"

Jack gave him an unimpressed glare and said, "Hey, the upstairs bathroom is unoccupied, so if you need to go pee, do it now."

"What? No! My grandma's bathing in there right now!" Jamie glanced at Jack as if reprimanding him with his eyes and said, "You know, just because you got pimp slapped by her doesn't mean you need to get everyone else in on that, too."

"Actually, it kinda does, in my book. Don't worry, man. You won't understand my mind until you reach the teenage phase."

"...Aren't you the one who broke my brother's nose?" Kevin finally spoke for the first time since arriving in Jamie's home.

Jack eyed him warily. "If you're Samson Fisher's brother, then yes."

Kevin blinked, but then smiled and nodded. "Good job on doing that. I could tell it was you from the black eye. He deserved it. You have no idea how long I've been waiting for someone to give him a taste of his own medicine."

"Kevin!" Monty protested. "I know brothers fight and all, but it's completely wrong to approve of a nose injury!"

Kevin shrugged. "Hey, he laughed at me when I fell off my sled and sprained his ankle. Which is ten times worse than getting a broken nose, by the way."

"Your bone only got sprained! His got broken!"

"I view my ankle as more important than my nose. I find that I can breathe perfectly fine through my mouth, even if I'll breathe in more germs that way."

Jack grinned. "You know what, kiddo? I like you already. You're nothing like your brother or cousin."

"Oh yeah, speaking of my cousin..." Kevin whistled. "I heard that he was on his way here to get back at you for breaking Sam's nose, so be careful."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Right. I normally would take your advice, but he just came here a few minutes ago. If only you arrived fifteen minutes earlier, I would've avoided a painful feeling in my crotch."

Caleb winced and put a hand to his own groin. Wow, he definitely didn't want to be at the end of one of Scott Kimberly's kicks...

"Anyway, come on, Jamie. Let's go outside and play in the snow." Claude, pretending not to see his brother's odd reaction, grabbed Jamie's arm and proceeded to drag him out the front door, ignoring the latter's protests on how he was still in his pajamas. Monty and Kevin followed suit.

"Hi, Mrs. Bennett!" Kevin shouted happily as he waved to Jamie's mother, who was just coming inside the house, back from whatever she was doing.

Mrs. Bennett stared after her son's attire. "Jamie Bennett! At least put your coat on!"

"It's not my fault! Mom, heeeeeeellllllllllllpppppppp p!"

* * *

Jack pounded on the bathroom door urgently, his right leg crossed over his left. "Hurry up in there! I'm dying out here!" Wow, the elderly sure are slow in using the toilet.

"Use the one upstairs!" Grandpa Joe shouted from inside.

_Or maybe he's just doing this on purpose since he hates me_, Jack thought darkly, and then retorted, "Well, apparently your wife takes showers that are an hour and a half long, 'cause she hasn't come out yet!"

"Oh, teenage brats these days—" Jack heard Joe mutter. "Alright, alright, I'm coming!" Thirty seconds later, he was out, tucking a newspaper under one hand. "The toilet's clogged," he deadpanned, and then handed Jack a plunger. "Since you need the use it next, why don't you fix it?" He then strolled past the former winter spirit nonchalantly.

Jack, urine urgency completely forgotten, stared at the plunger in his hand._ Oh yeah, he totally means to do this to me._ However, during the unclogging, he had some second thoughts on relenting. _Se vado a questo tipo di merda, mi sono pagati per questo._

* * *

"Jackson!"

Jack mentally groaned. He had been dealing with Grandpa Joe for a couple of days already, and the last thing he wanted was Grandma Mary in on his misery as well. But he decided that whatever she wanted couldn't be as bad, so he managed to reply courteously (although his teeth were a little clenched), "Yes?"

"Could you massage my back?"

What did Jack look like, a person who worked at a spa? Which, for your information, was the last place he ever wanted to work at. However, Mrs. Bennett had told him yesterday that Grandpa Joe and Grandma Mary were old and all their favors needed to be accepted. Jack did see the logic in that, but he couldn't help but think, I'm older than both of them combined, so when are my favors going to be accepted?

He muttered quietly, "Sure..." He sat down next to her and started doing what he was asked to do, and for once, it went without a hitch (other than Jack not enjoying any of it, but yeah). That is, until Wynter somehow got into the room and meowed, drawing attention.

Grandma Mary suddenly started screeching. "Cat! There's a cat in the house! GET IT OUT OF HERE!"

Jack, slightly raising both of his eyebrows at the lady's overreaction, picked Wynter up. "What's the matter? She's just a stray cat I picked up, and she's really tame."

Mary's eyes widened at the words stray cat. "Oh my goodness, GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME!"

Jack, wanting to prevent more trouble by giving Jamie's grandmother a heart attack (As cruel as it sounded, he had no qualms to her having a heart attack anywhere else), carried Wynter outside into the yard again.

"Really... What's wrong with her?" he muttered as he set her down. "How'd you even get inside in the first place?"

Wynter's head turned to a different direction, and Jack followed her beeline. The back door had been left open by someone, and there was just enough space for a Turkish Angora like Wynter to squeeze into. Jack simply walked over to the door and closed it, grumbling as he did so.

* * *

"Jane, it was sweet of you to let us stay over," Mary smiled as she had her palm on the handle of a suitcase. She was currently standing in the front doorway.

"It's nothing, Mom. We're family," Mrs. Bennett smiled back. "You're always welcome here. Who wouldn't want you?"

_Uh, me_, flashed through Jack's mind, but he knew way better than to actually say that out loud.

"Yeah, bye," Jamie gave a small smile and waved.

"Bye!" Sophie giggled and waved, and then grabbed her stuffed Bunny's arm and waved that also.

"Yeah... See ya," Jack said flatly, and half-heartedly held up his hand, only to let it flop back down again. Or rather not. Hopefully, nobody would notice his poor acting skills; he was usually good at masking his true feelings, but the past week had been absolutely crazy, and he just wasn't up to it.

Of course, it didn't help how he found out later that night that Joe had left his briefs behind in the guest room right next to the bed.

* * *

A few weeks later, the same day Jack discovered Baby Tooth and taught Jamie how to speak a little bit of Italian, Jamie suddenly remembered something after all his friends went home. "Hey, you remember when my grandparents stayed over?"

Jack rolled his eyes. "How could I forget?" _Good riddance forever to them._

"On that first night, when you slept in my room, do you know what happened to my alarm clock?"

Jack blinked. "Huh? Oh, yeah I do."

"Really? What happened to it? 'Cause me and my mom are stressing our brains trying to figure out why it suddenly disappeared."

"I, uh, got really grumpy, since it rang in the middle of the night, and I really don't like having something startle me awake—I prefer to wake up by myself—so I got my mallet and pounded it. I stuffed the remains under your bed."

Jamie stared. "So those metal pieces I found there the other day while I was cleaning my room—you destroyed my alarm?! I depend on that thing to wake me up for school! My mom's getting sick of having to call me up!"

Jack shrugged. "Buy a new one. Those aren't too expensive."

Jamie sighed. "Fine... Where'd you get a mallet anyway?"

"The same place where I got my chainsaw."

"You said there were only that and prison chains under your bed!"

"I never said it was under my bed, but it was in my room. In the bottom drawer of my dresser, to be exact."

"...What else is there in our guest room?" Jack opened his mouth to talk, but Jamie cut him off. "Never mind, I don't want to know."

**Se vado a questo tipo di merda, mi sono pagati per questo = If I'm going to deal with this type of shit, I better get paid.**

**Anyway, I realized that I barely touched on Jamie's grandparents visit, so there really was no point in putting that in there. And then I bring you this.**

**Completely unrelated: Hey, so my friend Jauntues Tigerwolf uploaded a Naruto fanfiction called The Adventure of a Lifetime. The two of us and three other friends at school collaborated on this, we created our own OC's and we used our real first names and personalities for them (The girl named Bethany is the only one who's completely fictional). So basically, my OC has the same name as me. Guess what that means? If you want to know what my first name is, just go to that fanfic and then it's right there. And I know I said we used our real personalities, but I think my character is a bit OOC, since Jauntues wrote my part (I don't think I'm evil enough), and the only part that's in character is the author's note at the bottom, since I was the one who actually typed that. If you** **like Naruto, check it out, and if you don't like/don't watch Naruto, check it out anyway (It's been up for a full 24 hours, but there are still no reviews). I myself don't even watch Naruto, yet I managed. Some stuff in the fanfic is true in real life, like Stephanie's cursing and Rigoudon3's chocolate addiction. Some stuff is not true, such as my friends forcing me to start watching Naruto.**

**Also, I finally replaced that bisexual poll on my profile (It reached 50 unique voters), and in its place is a much more sober poll asking which story should I start in the future. So go vote on that.**

**I don't have time for answering questions this chapter, so I swear that I will answer all of them in the next. However, I do have time to talk about SecretWriter's review for chapter 9, and she said she felt slightly offended during the part where Samson thinks Those damn Asians, since she's Asian and lives in Singapore. First off, I would like to say that Singapore is a nice place; I've been there once. Second, when I typed Those damn Asians, that was what Samson was thinking, not me. I would never say that, at least not offensively. Third, I was born here in California, but both of my parents came here from Taiwan. So, in other words, I'm an Asian too (I'm also the first in our family to speak English this fluently, but that's beside the point). Fourth, I'm not sure if Singapore is also like this, but here in California, we say stuff like Asian fail and Quit being such an Asian. But we don't mean anything serious by it; it's meant to be taken lightly. Personally, I don't make those Asian comments a lot, but I occasionally do. So to sum it all up, you shouldn't take any offense to the Those damn Asians bit (I believe that all races are equal), and I'm sorry that I didn't clear it up earlier in the chapter 9 author's note (I meant to do that, but I simply forgot. I don't think you guys believe me, but I really did).**

**I guess I could say the same thing for the part where Zander said Jack sucked because he was a senior in geometry. There's no offense to be taken in that statement either.**

**So please review!**


	13. In Which Jack Is Called Johnny

**Hatsu Yukiya struck a deal with me that she'll update her To Have a Home story fast if I update this fast. This is going to put a lot more pressure on me, but whatever.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians.**

Jack frowned tentatively. "Are you sure?"

Baby Tooth nodded and squeaked firmly, showing that she wasn't about to change her mind. She had managed to tell Jack she wanted to go to school with him, as it was her duty to watch over him. However, Jack had other ideas, claiming that "school was hell, teachers were Satan, and the students minus him were the demonic minions." However, she could tell that she was gradually getting through to him.

Jack sighed, admitting defeat. "Fine, but there are a couple conditions. First, don't go randomly flying off without me knowing, and second, don't look at me when I change clothes in PE."

Baby Tooth nodded. She could live with those rules.

* * *

The badminton unit started in PE on Monday. Cici, proving to be good at any existing sport there was, had no problem with the end of dodgeball. Jack, on the other hand, failed to even have his racket impact with the birdie more often than not.

"You told me this was easy!" he accused his friend.

"It's not my fault your coordination is terrible!" she shot back.

"In my defense, tennis rackets are much bigger than these flimsy things."

"But they're heavier."

"I don't mind heaviness at all."

"You sure?" Cici teasingly poked one of Jack's skinny arms. "Your skinny figure says otherwise."

"Hey, I'm stronger than I look. I broke Samson Fisher's nose once, and I wasn't even hitting him as hard as I could," Jack said irritably. "In fact, I think I could've knocked him out if I punched harder."

Cici sighed. "I would normally ask you to prove it, but that would be a terrible idea."

Jack opened his mouth to retort back when he thought he saw a camera flash to his left. He looked around, but saw nothing out of place.

Cici noticed this. "What's the matter?"

"I thought I saw something... I must've been imagining things."

Baby Tooth frowned. She knew Jack could not have actually been seeing things, because she actually saw the flash too. She looked around, but couldn't spot anything. She shrugged it off. It couldn't be anything important, right? Besides, she and Jack had much bigger problems to worry about. Also, she couldn't help but be a little concerned with how Jack's blonde friend kept on looking at his shoulder while conversing, which was where the tiny fairy was located. It was extremely rare for a teenager to keep believing in the supposedly mythical childhood legends, so this Cici girl must've been looking at something else... Was she?

* * *

"Okay, so to bisect this angle, we need to divide the angle degree number by two, and use this protractor to draw the line, right?"

Jack was asking this partially because he genuinely wanted to make sure, but also because he wanted to see if Cody would speak to him. He hadn't heard the antisocial boy speak at all during the past week, and while working on this project, it was only him talking and mostly him participating. It was dumbfounding how Cody didn't seem to care about this at all (since the teacher was cruel enough to actually make it a big part of their final grade), but then the surprise ceased. After two or three days, it became just plain irritating; Jack was not happy that he had to work his butt off on one of the subjects he hated most, especially since someone else was supposed to be helping him. But he kept his mouth shut, since he most likely wouldn't even be here by the end of the school term, and wouldn't have to worry about grades and college and stuff. It didn't help ease the annoyance though. If Cody knew about how he felt, then he certainly didn't show it. He spent everyday in that class either staring out the window or at Jack. His expression never changed; it was always an emotionless face plastered on that pale skin. Jack knew he didn't have anything to be afraid of, but Cody definitely would take home the medal of knowing how to make someone, even Pitch Black, squirm.

Cody was staring out the window at the moment, and he didn't even turn his head as he gave a subtle nod to Jack. Well, he wasn't exactly talking out loud, but that little reaction was better than nothing, Jack decided.

* * *

Lunch soon came, and just as Spencer had said, Zander was completely fine. In fact, he acted as if he didn't just storm out on everyone on Friday. Jack suspected that Spencer may have had something to do with his brother not saying anything about that particular day, but he knew better than to ask aloud.

Before Jack knew it, it was performance art class period. He wasn't going to say it out loud, but this class was fun...somewhat. The teacher, Miss McCarthy, wasn't too bad either, other than her psychotic claims of being a distant relative of Paul McCarthy.

Class started off with further announcements about the middle school play. Jack learned that the singing part of the class were going to perform first, with song covers, while the dancers choreographed. Then came the play, and the makeup artist section was just going to help out behind the scenes.

"We need to create a banner, so if you know anyone taking art, ask them if they can do it," the teacher informed. "Also, acting section, have you figured out what you want to do for the play yet?"

"Not yet, Miss McCarthy," the acting representative, a girl named Crystal, replied back with a slightly sheepish tone. "But we'll have one soon, we promise."

Miss McCarthy sighed. "I'll trust you on that, Crystal. I don't know the exact date for all of this, but either way, you'll need something soon. Now, about our class representatives. I haven't chosen who they should be yet, but I should by the end of the week." She turned to Jack. "Since you're new, I don't expect you to know what I'm talking about. Every year at the middle school, we need two students to introduce everything to the audience."

Jack paused for a second, blinking. "You mean hosts?"

"I wouldn't say exactly hosts... They simply introduce the performances and entertain the crowd while everyone else gets ready."

"...Those are hosts," Jack couldn't help but deadpan.

"I think Jackson should be a host!" raven-haired Flo Robinson piped up suddenly.

"He would be a great one!" redheaded Bo Robinson agreed.

"Just think of how gorgeous he would be if he was one!" blonde Jo Robinson sighed dreamily.

Jack rolled his eyes while Baby Tooth glared daggers at the Robinson triplets. Miss McCarthy simply ignored them.

Jack suddenly realized something. "Wait, aren't there other periods for this class? What about them?"

"Starting next week, all periods meet up here after school to prepare," Spencer explained patiently.

Out of the corner of Jack's eye, he noticed Anton roll his eyes and mouth, "Duh." He was promptly ignored.

Once everyone got into their respective sections, Crystal immediately began questioning everyone else in the group. "Does anyone here have any ideas for the play?"

"Me and Spencer came up with some," Zander spoke up. "But they're either cliché or just terrible."

"Hey, I don't think the spy one was that bad!" Spencer protested, but then paused. "Okay, so maybe there are a ton of better ideas out there..."

* * *

The football game Jack had been anticipating for all weekend finally came. Of course, he was only going to see Ariel, but still. Needless to say, he caught himself spending most of the entire hour-long game staring at her, and he was almost sure that Zander noticed this, judging by the way he kept on sneaking dumbfounded glances and frowns at Jack and Ariel, while Spencer was trying to focus on the game, but got distracted by Cici multiple times.

Once the game was over, Jack immediately got up and went down the bleachers toward Ariel's direction, ignoring the twins' stares. Once she was in earshot, he called out, "Great job!"

She smiled back at him, and once he approached her, she replied, "Thanks, Johnny." She looked over his shoulder. "I see you've brought company."

Zander crossed his arms and glared at her. "His name is Jack."

Jack looked at him and Spencer. They followed him? He brushed it off, and said, "She can call me Johnny... I don't mind."

Zander shot him a look of disbelief. "You're kidding me, right?"

Spencer, not wanting any storms to start brewing, took his brother's arm and dragged him over to Cici so they could chat with her. Ariel's gaze followed them. "Your friend Zander doesn't seem to like me very much," she remarked.

"I know. He doesn't even bother to hide it," Jack said back. "I don't get it. What's his problem with you? You seem perfectly fine to me."

"Oh, yeah, that. We dated back in our sophomore year."

Jack gape like a fish out of water. "...What now?"

"You know him more than you know me, so maybe you should ask him what went wrong, 'cause I honestly don't know."

Jack thought for a bit. "Why don't you come sit with us at lunch tomorrow? Whatever happened between you and Zander might've been something huge, but I don't see why he wouldn't forgive a girl like you. Maybe you guys need to start hanging out again."

Ariel waved his request off. "Oh, no, I couldn't..."

"Oh, come on! I came to your game because you wanted me to, so you have to pay me back!" Jack joked.

Ariel rolled her eyes playfully. "Fine then. I'll see you tomorrow at lunch." She waved goodbye and left.

Jack was about to go over to where Cici, Zander, and Spencer were, but as he turned, he became face to face with Zander, who was showing no emotion whatsoever. While Baby Tooth laughed, he yelped out, "Quit it! Why do you keep on doing that?!"

Zander ignored Jack's question, and said in an equally unimpressed voice, "Why'd you just invite her to eat with us?"

Jack frowned, recovering from his shock. "'Cause it's the nice thing to do. Whatever grudge you're holding against her, you've got to let it go."

"Look, I'm not one to bear a lifelong grudge against someone, but Ariel is different," Zander sighed exasperatedly. "It's true that the two of us were kinda an item two years ago, and there's a reason why I dumped her. You don't know who she is, Jack. You've gotta trust me on this."

Jack's frown deepened. "Well, maybe she's changed—"

"There is _no way_ she has."

"Come on! Just give her a second chance! Please?"

Spencer suddenly appeared behind his brother and said, "I'm all for second chances. Loosen up, bro."

After much hesitation, Zander finally gave in. "Fine," he said flatly. "But that doesn't mean I'm actually going to talk to her."

Jack smiled at him gratefully. "Thanks."

* * *

Samson took the camera from Anton and smirked, "I can't wait to see the look on Overland's face once he sees this."

Anton crossed his arms. "Yeah, you're welcome."

"Oh, shut it." Samson took the camera roll out of the camera, and added, "It'll all be worth it once you see the look on Overland's face."

* * *

"I'm back!" Jack called out as he entered in through the front door.

"Oh, dammit!"

Jack stood still for a minute, then marched upstairs and opened Jamie's bedroom door. The younger boy was sitting on his bed, legs extended, laptop on his lap, hands guiltily covering his mouth.

"Jamie, did I just hear you say what I think you said?" Jack deadpanned. He didn't wait for an answer, though, and immediately continued, "I hear you say that word one more time, and I'm going to skin you and dance on your grave."

"Sorry, Jack..." Jamie mumbled sheepishly. "I just got really frustrated and it just came out..."

"What got you so peeved?"

Jamie turned the laptop around so Jack could see the screen. "I was trying to look up what this neighborhood used to be before all these houses were built... You know, since you have all those weapons in your room..." he said that last part quietly.

Jack blinked. "If you wanted to know, then you could've just asked me. I _have_ been around for 300 years, you know."

"Okay, then what's the answer?"

Jack shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't know."

"You said you knew!"

"No, I said you could've considered asking me as an option. Doesn't necessarily mean I can give you an answer. Besides, I wasn't just talking about this; I was talking about Burgess history in general."

Jamie simply shot him a "Really?" look.

**This isn't my quickest update, but it's slightly faster than the last few ones. Yeah, suck that!**

**When I first put up that bisexual Jack poll, it got fifteen votes on the first day. Now that I have a new poll up, I only got a total of seven votes throughout the week. Um, wow, okay, are you guys trying to tell me something here? Did you really just forget to vote, or do you simply think that Jack's sexuality matters more than my future writing? Not cool or funny at all, guys. Don't take my current bitchy attitude personally, 'cause I'm just tired right now. Being tired makes me irritable (It's been a slow week).**

**By the way, I made a Facebook page. If you have a Facebook, go ahead and like it. The link to the page is at the bottom of my profile**.

**Reply time!**

**Hatsu Yukiya: Due to me using your little bookworm, it's only fair if I let you use my little Italian-speaker. Now that that's out of my system, where's my To Have A Home? Hm?**

**Writeous: Ariel isn't meant to be a likable character. I hate her too, so you're not alone.**

**Gamma Cavy: That's a good idea, actually... Though I picture both Scott and Samson to be stubborn fools and refuse to believe they'll get hypothermia until they actually get it.**

**Dude: I know Tooth can speak all languages, which is why I called it a canon. I don't call it a headcanon. There's a difference between those two. And that bi/lingual thing was something I did on purpose. 'Cause I'm a troll. :P No, Zander, Spencer, and Christine aren't committing suicide (Christine isn't even that important of a character). And Jack had headphones because that was part of his outfit. I know I didn't specify this, but I change his clothes once in a while. I was picturing him to have headphones that day. And I guess he would listen to music like Angel With A Shotgun by The Cab (which really fits him).**

**Derp: It's a Shugo Chara one-shot. Search up Red Valentine, and narrow down the results till you see something written by LuvMeOrHateMe.**

**Maddie Seth: LOL You'll like most of the headcanons I've come up with then... Headcanon: Jack can't tell Caleb and Claude apart. Headcanon: Pippa has a tiny,** **secretive crush on Jack. Headcanon: I don't think it's possible to have 300 years of agonizing loneliness and still be completely sane, so Jack's kind of crazy. It's subtle, but it can be seen when he's handling a chainsaw.**

**agent000: It's still a while before Jack gets his powers back, but things are going to start deteriorating pretty soon. Definitely in the next two chapters.**

**Mystery Girl Who Writes: He's not in a hurry to find anything out, and as you saw, he's having trouble doing research.**

** .latchem: I honestly don't know what's up with that room either, but I only included that part in for laughs. I didn't think it would get so popular.**

**RandomKrazyPerson: Thank you for considering our Naruto collaboration. You're the only one so far.**

**Kaylessa: LOL OMG That made me laugh so hard. I'll make sure Scott gets what he deserves. I promise you that.**

**Sorida: FINALLY SOMEONE WHO UNDERSTANDS. I was worrying that I was alone on the Asian jokes thing, haha. And that 'made in China' joke is a good one. ;D**

**girlygurl720: I put humor in every story I write, since it just naturally comes to me. If FanFiction allowed us to put a third genre, it would definitely be humor.**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Review once more!**


	14. In Which Jack Is Oblivious

**I didn't feel motivated enough to write a chapter this weekend, so right now, I'm in Spanish class working on a musical project and typing this at the same time (My teacher won't care much, since we're supposed to be looking for a song to do the project on, but anyway, you're welcome).**

**Disclaimer: Someone do this for me.**

Ariel had been hanging out with Jack at lunch. She always came by their lunch table and sat down to chat with Jack. Zander mostly pretended that she wasn't there, and only responded to her greetings with a grumpy, "Hi." This was expected, but Spencer also wasn't up to conversation either, despite him seemingly supporting Jack's decision to befriend the girl. When Jack pointed that out to him, he said that he didn't want his brother to grow angry at him. Jack didn't think Zander was that controlling, so he had doubts on this excuse, but let it go nevertheless.

On Thursday, in fourth period, Jack finally managed to finish that stupid math project that he and Cody had been assigned to do, fifteen minutes before class ended. He was glad for that, because it was the last day for them to actually work on it in class, and if they hadn't finished, they had to take it home to work on, as it was due on Friday at the beginning of the period.

Jack turned to Cody. "I finished _our _project." He put strong emphasis on the "our." Yet, he was ignored completely by the other boy, who was staring out the windows again. Jack hated being ignored—he always did. And right now was no exception. He sighed frustratedly and glared at the back of Cody's head. "You know, I spent nearly 2 weeks doing this torturous assignment when we were really supposed to be working together on it, and all you've been doing is sitting in that seat looking at everything around you. The least you could've done was help a teensy bit."

There. He said it. He couldn't help but be secretly proud of himself for not losing his composure and screaming F-bombs, which would've been bad since they were all in a class with a teacher supervising. Hopefully, he still managed to carry the point across calmly.

To his surprise and satisfaction, Cody turned his head toward him. To his dismay, this was the reply he got, "You came from a different town, right? Where?"

Jack frowned. Out of all the answers he expected to get, this was definitely not one of them. Nobody ever asked him that question before either, but fortunately enough, he had an answer prepared. "The capital city, Philadelphia. Why?"

"Why'd you move?"

Now this wasn't something Jack was expecting. He paused for a second, then said, "My parents thought it was too crowded, so they wanted to move to a smaller town like Burgess. I only agreed because I really didn't care all that much."

Cody nodded slightly. "I lived there too. You know, before I transferred."

"Oh. Why'd you transfer?"

Cody suddenly stiffened, and let his black bangs, which were already drooping through one eye, fall over the rest of his face. "It's none of your concern," he bit out icily. "It's all mine, and you probably wouldn't care at all even if I told you. I know what all people are like. They always pretend like they care, but they really don't. So what makes you think I would actually tell you my reasons?"

He turned his gaze back to the window, resuming his indifferent activities, but Jack didn't part his attention from him until only a few minutes later. Cody was a mysterious character...

_And he's clearly hiding something, _was what flashed through Jack's mind right before the bell rang, signaling lunch.

* * *

Zander and Spencer were already at the table when Jack arrived. He set his backpack down on the bench and looked around, searching for Ariel.

"Uh, hello to you too," Zander deadpanned.

"If you're looking for Ariel, she probably went to buy lunch. She should be here soon, so why don't you wait?" Spencer suggested.

Jack visibly relaxed. "Oh, okay."

Zander's frown became more clear on his face. "You shouldn't be worrying about her like an overprotective parent. She can take care of herself."

Jack shot him a look. "Are you saying that because you hate her?"

"What? No. I mean, I hate her, but really, you shouldn't be all protective of her."

Jack shrugged. "Sorry. It's just instinct. By the way, you should talk to her."

Zander, who was taking a sip of his chocolate milk, spit it all right back out when he heard that, much to his brother's disgust. "What?!"

"Ugh, Zander, don't spit your milk all out on the table," Spencer gagged.

Ignoring him, Zander looked at Jack with a horrified look on his face. "I'm not talking to her! Not after what I've been through with her! I'd rather be holed up underground than take any more chances with her!"

"Come on!" Jack pleaded. "You don't have to carry on an actual conversation with her! All I'm asking is for you to say hi and ask how she's been! Don't tell me that's too much for you, because I know it's not."

"But—"

"Zander, just do it," Spencer interrupted. "What's there to lose?"

Zander knew better than to argue with his brother. Whenever they disagreed on something, Spencer almost always won, and he could tell that he had no way out of this. "Fine, but you owe me big time."

Jack grinned from ear to ear. "Great."

Ariel came rushing over, her lunch tray in her hands. "Johnny! There's a local carnival in town next Tuesday, and I got two tickets for you and me! Do you want to come?"

Jack blinked, confused. "Carnival? There's a carnival?"

"You don't know about it? It's a carnival that's only going to be in town for a couple of days. There's a ring toss, a whack-a-mole, and on top of that, there's a circus," Spencer filled him in.

"And a food court," Zander added.

"Oh, cool. Alright, I'll come," Jack smiled at Ariel, accepting the invitation. "And if you'll excuse me, I'm going to buy lunch. I'm starving." He left, giving Zander a "Talk to her or I'll make you" look, which nobody except for Zander noticed.

"I'm craving cookies," Spencer announced suddenly, and got up. "Be right back." He went after Jack to the lunch line. If he noticed the daggers that were being shot at him by his brother, he didn't show it at all.

Zander sighed. Oh, the taste he had in people to hang out with. _Ditchers. _He glanced up at Ariel, who was sitting across from him, examining her fingernails. Knowing he had no other choice, he began awkwardly, "So... How've you been?"

"Perfectly fine," she replied loftily. "Your little friend really is something."

Zander gripped the edge of the table at her attitude of superiority, but managed to say politely, "He's pretty unique. Sometimes I don't even get his logic at all." He couldn't help but add, "And he's not little."

"He's the naïve type, isn't he?"

"Naïve, sure. Stupid, no. He can be smart if he feels like it."

Ariel had not taken her eyes off her fingers, but at this, she gave Zander a side glance. "I never said he was stupid."

"You were implying it."

The tension between them was almost tangible, and it was still gradually increasing. Each time Ariel spoke, Zander held onto the table edge tighter than before, his knuckles were white, and his courteous tone had become strained. He knew that behind Ariel's sweet persona was a devil waiting for the outside gates to open so it could escape. All that talk about her changing was crap, and he could tell straight away. Internally, he prepared himself for the malice to start showing.

"You're really only talking to me because he told you to, am I right?"

Zander snapped out of his thoughts. "What?" It was true, of course, but he thought it best to keep it up for as long as he could.

Ariel rolled her eyes. "Oh, drop the act. I'm not stupid either. I know you don't want to have anything to do with me. It's ridiculous how you would want to put yourself through this suffering just to make your little friend happy."

It was annoying Zander greatly at how Ariel kept on referring to Jack as "little friend." He spoke through gritted teeth, "He likes you, and I don't want to make him think I'm controlling his love life. Not like you'll ever be a part of it."

"Are you sure about that?" Ariel cocked her head to one side at his last comment, drumming her fingers on the table. "He seems to be pretty into me. You don't have to tell me he likes me for me to know that he likes me."

"What are you planning?" Zander asked bluntly.

"Tell me, does little Johnny care more about his friends or his crush?"

Zander paused at that question. He had no doubt that Jack would rather stay with him and Spencer than go with some silly crush if it meant pushing everyone else away. If there was one thing Zander had learned about Jack, it was that he valued his friendships. But what was Ariel hinting at?

Ariel didn't wait for an answer, because she continued, "It would be sad if he chose his crush, wouldn't it? What would he think of his friends then?"

Zander got a queasy feeling in his stomach. He had caught on, and he stood up. He put his hands on the table and hissed, while glaring, "You wouldn't dare."

Ariel feigned hurt and surprise. "Would I?"

"I knew you hadn't changed. Jack's so in love with you, he can't think straight, and my brother's too nice and forgiving to remember the evil you've committed. They're lucky I'm not like either of them, because you're busted," Zander snarled.

"Oh, so you're going to tell on me?" Ariel made a fake gasp. "Should I really be feeling threatened by that? I know you've tried telling your friend about me, but did he believe you? No. No, he didn't. What makes you think he'll believe you this time?"

She was right. Her point was made clear. Jack wouldn't believe Zander and would think he was imagining this very real conversation. Not being able to think up a counterargument, he sat down and muttered, "Slut," just loud enough for her to hear him.

Ariel smirked, knowing she had won. She looked behind her, "Oh, look, Johnny and company are coming back."

"His. Name. Is. Jack," Zander growled at her, making sure Jack and Spencer couldn't hear him.

She said quietly in a sing-song voice, "He said I could call him Johnny."

"Hey, so we're back," Jack said, sliding onto the bench beside Ariel, who was putting up that goody-good façade again. "Did we miss anything?"

"Nothing," Ariel smiled at him. "Just some small talk."

Jack raised an eyebrow at Zander. "Oh, so you did talk to her. I was half-expecting you not to." He stopped talking once he saw how Zander seemed to be glaring at thin air. "Uh..."

Spencer, who resumed his seat beside his brother, looked at him weirdly. "Are you okay? You look like a bear about to attack."

"I'm absolutely fine," Zander bit out darkly.

"Do you want a cookie? I bought one extra in case you did want one." Spencer handed his twin a chocolate chip cookie.

Zander roughly grabbed it and forced a "Thank you" out of his mouth. He crammed half of it into his mouth, got up, and left.

"Is your brother okay?" Jack asked, a little concerned over Zander's behavior.

"I don't know," Spencer shrugged, then stood up. "I'll go talk to him." He looked around, but Zander had already left the cafeteria. "After I find him, that is."

* * *

He eventually found Zander sitting, knees against his chest, on the grass field behind the gymnasium, irritatedly pulling at the green blades and their roots.

Spencer sat down next to him in the same position. "What's eating you? Or do I have to wait some more so you could blow off enough steam to explain?"

"What makes you think something's eating me?" Zander grumbled, not looking up from what he was doing.

"First off, you tortured that poor cookie. Second, you're torturing nature right now."

"It's... It's nothing, alright?" Zander sighed. "I'll forget about it soon."

"As your twin brother, I am aware of when it's nothing and when it's something. And it's something right now," Spencer said flatly. "Now spill. I'll listen." He knew he got him once he stopped tugging at the ground.

"Jack doesn't know what he's getting himself into," Zander muttered. "While you guys were gone, Ariel started acting like the skank she really is, and...and said some stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"About how Jack would choose her over us. She didn't say it out loud, but that's obviously what she aims to make sure of. I mean, she most likely hates me for dumping her two years ago, so this might be her way of exacting revenge. I don't get women at all. She's the one who wasn't serious about the relationship."

"Why don't you tell Jack that?"

"I was going to, but she pointed out to me how Jack didn't believe me before, so what makes it any different now? He'll think I'm making stuff up." He eyed his brother. "And there's no guarantee he'll believe you either."

Spencer frowned, knowing he was right. "You're right, Jack's not just going to let her go like that. He'll need to see for himself."

"So what, we somehow get him to spy on Ariel or something?"

Spencer looked at him warily. "He'll figure it out himself. He doesn't need people to push him."

Zander's frown grew. "Come on! It's what happens all the time on TV!"

"But this isn't TV," Spencer replied patiently. "Jack's not dumb. He'll eventually catch on to her true character."

"How can you be so sure of that?"

Spencer sighed. "I'm not. When his brother kept silent, he added, "You found out about her. Who says _he_ won't?"

Zander nodded tentatively. "Right. I got it. We'll leave them alone."

**Screw it, I'm cutting it off there. I think it's long enough.**

**I like writing from Zander and Spencer's perspective. I don't think I've done it before, and I'm sure this isn't the last time I'll do it.**

**I'd like to thank a reviewer, Maddie Seth, for drawing fan art for my OCs, Zander, Spencer, Cici, Anton, and Cody. She's MaddieSeth on deviantArt, and you can find her drawings there. You could also go to my profile, and the links to the artwork will be at the bottom. Seriously, guys. Her works are worth checking out.**

**Also, I'm tempted to change the chapter titles. Do you guys think I should change them?**

**Reply time!**

**TDBrigit: Then you will be very pleased. ;)**

**Mystery Girl Who Writes: Sheesh, I scared you that much? I must have more potential than I thought. :D **

**Hatsu Yukiya: Don't worry, it wasn't the bad kind of pressure. In fact, I don't even know why I called it pressure, 'cause I don't think that was the right word for it. It's a good thing I'm updating today, since you did too, and if I didn't, I wouldn't be filling in for my part of the deal. ;D**

**agent000: I'm not surprised by that news at all. But, luckily, after I spoke up about it, I got more votes, and I'm much more satisfied.**

**likhitata: Yeah, I kind of figured that at least one person would be able to catch on. So you like my headcanons too, hm? Here's another one: Jack is engaged to someone. He doesn't want to be engaged to her, since the proposal was accidental, but he's engaged. On the other hand, his fiancée's pretty happy about the engagement. I'll probably be introducing her in a future extra, so keep your eye out for that. Anyone who's reading this is probably internally freaking out right now.**

**girlygurl720: I was originally going to name Ariel Megan, but I changed my mind. I forgot why though. And I picture her to have long black hair and...green eyes? I haven't decided on her eye color yet. And omg, your Cupid story is awesome. I have my own version of Cupid that I'm planning on introducing... -whistles- To whoever is reading this: Try to figure out what I'm hinting at here.**

**LightMyBulb: Wow, my headcanons sure are well-liked. XD And FINALLY, someone figured out who is the real suicidal one! I've been waiting for someone to catch on. And you could do whatever fan art you want. Just make sure to let me know when you're finished with a drawing! (Me and Hatsu Yukiya, we love each other :D)**

**RandomKrazyPerson: Well, you're the only one who listened to me about Naruto. XD There are three other reviewers on that story: Freedom of Creation, Blue Supernova, and TayMor. But they don't count, since they're not my reviewers. :P**

**Dude: Mean? You weren't mean, you were just asking a perfectly okay question.**

**Yami's Devil: Whoa, kill Samson, but don't kill Anton. I like Anton. D:**

**Randomness: I'm not planning on having Samson figure out about Jack Frost at all. XD As for Anton... (All the people who are still reading this are probably wondering what the hell I'm planning with Anton XD)**

**Sassy Shota: She wasn't a cheater. I was going to make her one like way back, but I decided to go for something more original than that.**

**Maddie Seth: Look at my reply for likhitata. :D Yeah, insinuated is the right word. You'll have to wait and see about Cici. ;)**

**Thank you to Kaylee and the above people for reviewing! Review again!**


	15. In Which Jack Commits Vandalism

**I feel like updating. Now thank me, because To Have A Home hasn't been updated. By the way, a little warning: Jack is going to show some very uncharacteristic stupidity in the next two chapters.**

**I normally would put this at the end of the chapter, but what I'm about to say is important, SO READ THIS IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOUR SANITY. Guys, look, when I asked you if I should make Jack bi, I didn't think it would attract this much attention. I'm not sure who noticed and who didn't, but I took down that poll several weeks ago, indicating that THE DISCUSSION IS OVER. I already said that I was going to just imply that he's bi (I know what you people who want him to stay straight are thinking. Sorry, but I've actually already been implying it. Recall the Twilight and Fifty Shades bit, anyone? No? Okay). Just to make sure you'll listen to me on this, I have decided to give you guys an ultimatum: Quit the bisexual Jack talk, or else I'm buzz cutting all his hair off. I'm not joking. I've already thought up a good reason to why Jack should get rid of his hair. I will let him keep his hair if you guys stop all this stuff about Jack's sexual orientation. If not... You guys ought to kiss Jack's brunette locks goodbye.**

**And you guys thought Hatsu Yukiya was satanic.**

**Guys... It was pure hilarity watching you guys freak out over Jack's engagement. Headcanon time: At some point after he became a Guardian, Jack accidentally got himself engaged to Cupid, the Spirit of Love. Don't ask me how. It just happened.**

**Disclaimer: I'm not Dreamworks.**

Jack's day was off to a pretty rough start. He had overslept (He had to thank Jamie for waking him up) and had to rush to get ready, and halfway on the way to school, he remembered that he had forgotten to feed Wynter, and had to text Mrs. Bennett back home so the cat wouldn't starve. Once he reached the front doors, on the same time the bell rang, Baby Tooth had suddenly caught up to him and started angrily chewing him out for leaving her behind (He wasn't sure what her exact words were, but he was almost sure she had used some profanity, which she had obviously picked up from him. He really needed to stop cursing in front of her, or else Tooth would have his head). Now that he was at school, he hoped things would lighten up. However, a number of students were pointing at him and talking at their peers in hushed whispers. He frowned. What was going on? Was there something on his body somewhere that was out of place? And would it kill the students to be slightly more discreet with talking behind his back?

"Jack!"

Jack turned around to find Cici, who was the one who had called him, Zander, and Spencer come up to him. He raised his eyebrows at the rare occasion when Spencer actually disregarded that he was standing within a five hundred foot radius near Cici. He bit back a snide remark, though, when he saw alarmed looks on all of his friends' faces.

"What's up?" he asked casually, trying his best to get rid of that uneasy feeling in his gut.

"Are you okay?" Cici frantically asked.

_There it was again: her resemblance of Tooth,_ Jack thought. "What are you talking about?" he questioned aloud. _Do I even want to know?_

Spencer held up the newspaper copy he was carrying. "The school newspaper came out this morning," he began to explain. "There's an article written about you."

"And it's not about you being a new student or any of that harmless crap," Zander added.

Jack tentatively took the paper from Spencer. It was already flipped to the page where the article about him was located, so he immediately began to read its contents.

**An Eating Embarrassment**

_Written by Erik Chou_

_Eating problems have always been a popular crisis for teens all over the country, and even the world, as the most important thing to them is their location on the weight scale. Furthermore, most of them do not realize that it is the wrong path to follow until it is too late and there's no going back. A perfect example of this calamity is new senior student Jackson Overland. In my opinion, his skinny arms and small stature are alarming, giving evidence that he has previously suffered from anorexia. _

Jack decided that he had read more than enough. He just read the intro paragraph, but that was all he needed to know what was going on. There was also a black and white picture of him and Cici chatting that day at PE (He suddenly remembered that white flash he had seen at the corner of his eye). He shoved the paper back into Spencer's hands, his left eyebrow twitching slightly. Baby Tooth, who was resting on his head, began to chirp indignantly. How dare some kid make negative assumptions about Jack like that when he really stood superior over everyone in this school?

"I'm not anorexic," Jack said in the calmest tone he could manage. "Just because I look underweight doesn't mean I have an eating problem. Who is this Erik person, and how does he even have access to that picture of me and Cici when he's not even in any of my classes?"

"Uh, are you okay?" Zander asked carefully, sensing the aura of intense, masked rage that Jack was emitting.

"Fine, fine," Jack replied stiffly.

"Erik Chou is the president of the newspaper team. And maybe he was there at PE to take a picture of you but you didn't notice?" Spencer answered Jack's questions.

"Are you_ sure_ you're okay?" Zander butted in, absolutely sure that Jack wasn't behaving like himself.

"I told you I am. What makes you think–" He suddenly whirled around and punched the nearest locker, leaving a dent behind. "–I'm not?"

Zander didn't say anything back, but Cici said quietly, "That was Samson Fisher's locker."

"Wow, gee, thanks. That just made me feel a whole lot better on wrecking that thing," Jack replied. None of the other three could tell if he was being sarcastic or not. "Now I won't feel guilty when I do this." He punched the locker three more times. On the third punch, his fist actually went right through the metal, much to Zander, Spencer, Cici, and various bystanders' horror.

"Anyway," Jack said dismissively, turning to Spencer. "We should head to class before the late bell rings. Come on, Spencer."

"Call me Captain Crazy, but I don't think he likes it when somebody criticizes his lankiness," Spencer murmured to his brother before following Jack.

"What was your first clue? The stiff body language, or the locker vandalism?" Zander muttered back sarcastically.

"Samson's not going to be happy with Jack once he finds out it was him who put that hole in his locker," Cici whistled.

* * *

Erik walked into the classroom. "Hey, Mrs. Winston. You wanted to see me?"

The newspaper team administrator, without smiling, motioned for him to sit. "There's something I want to talk to you about."

Erik sat down, oblivious to what Mrs. Winston wanted. "What's the matter?"

The woman asked a question of her own. "You know why I put my trust in you to become the newspaper team president?" She didn't give him a chance to answer—not that he would've answered anyway—before saying, "You're one of the most dedicated students on this campus. I'm both shocked and disappointed that you would pull something like this."

Erik frowned. "Excuse me, but I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm talking about this." Mrs. Winston pulled out a copy of the latest issue of the school paper, and flipped open to the page about Jack. "Erik, I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but criticizing other students negatively qualifies as a sort of bullying, and you know how harshly we take bullying."

Erik blinked, then looked down at the article Mrs. Winston was pointing at. His eyes skimmed through it, and they widened when he saw how his name was credited right underneath the title.

"I'm very disappointed," Mrs. Winston continued, though Erik had stopped listening. "I never expected you to pull a stunt like this—"

"I didn't write this."

Mrs. Winston sighed wearily. "Erik, please, you should at least admit it when you've done something bad—"

"Mrs. Winston, I swear to whoever's up there, I didn't write this. Somebody else on the team must have published this without my knowledge or consent."

"Then who did it?"

"I don't know who—" He abruptly stopped as realization kicked in, and he bit out quietly, "Fisher."

"Excuse me?" Mrs. Winston raised an eyebrow.

"It was Fi— Samson, Mrs. Winston. I instructed him to contribute to this issue of the paper, and was foolish enough to let him do whatever he wanted."

Mrs. Winston sighed again. "You shouldn't have done that, Erik."

"I know, I regret that now. Mrs. Winston, could you please do something about it? I'm not a teacher, but I don't think Samson should be let off the hook for something like this. I don't want anyone thinking that I really wrote that article either."

"Erik, I won't say that I don't believe you, because you seem to be telling he truth, but I can't enforce a punishment on Samson without exact proof that he's the true culprit." Seeing the look on her best student's face, however, she added, "Although I can keep an eye on him. I also could call the principal on the phone right now and have him delve into the situation at hand."

Erik frowned. "I don't want to sound like I'm disrespecting Mr. Kaka, but are you sure he's competent enough to do that?"

"...I'll call Mr. Suzuki."

* * *

"I saw you in the paper."

If it were any other day, Jack would've cared deeply at how Cody actually spoke without him prying (He swore to himself that he would find out why he seemed so gloomy the previous day after their terse conversing), but everyone (especially some lovesick girls and the Robinson twins) had been asking him if he was "okay" because of the little gossip article that was written abut him. It was already a bit of a sore subject for him already, and he was getting pretty agitated at the way people were trying to shower him with pity. In short, the fact that even Cody Gay was questioning him about it was peeving him.

"Yeah? What about it?" He may or may not have meant to sound so rude.

"Just saying. The same thing happened to me once."

That piqued Jack's interest. "Really?"

"Of course, I wouldn't kid about something like that. It was my freshman year, my first year here, a little over a month since I transferred. I was accused of being homosexual."

_I expected that it would be something like that, _Jack thought to himself. Out loud, he asked, "And?"

"People started treating me the same way they're treating you right now. I either ignored it or snapped at whoever was trying to comfort me. They eventually all fucked off, and it was never spoken about again. Things went back to the way they were, and the only thing that changed was that everyone seemed far more distant. They tried saying hi to me during the first few weeks of my transfer, assuming that I'm just shy, but after a while, they realized that I'm just the emo kid. The emo kid who almost always wears black, the emo kid who lets his black bangs fall over his face, the emo kid whose skin is so pale that people would think he never left the house, the emo kid who wears his hood up in class, the emo kid who's too fucked up to give two shits about what the teachers think of him. That's the image I have here in school, and practically all of Burgess. It's never changed, and I don't want it changed. It's just that fucking simple. And if there's an ass out there that thinks otherwise, he's crazy."

_I must be a crazy ass then,_ Jack thought.

* * *

"You talked with Cody?"

"Yeah," Jack frowned. "I told you that we talked yesterday too."

"That's different!" Zander retorted. "You had to snap at him for him to even open his mouth! But today, you were the one who kept your mouth shut!"

"Only because he can relate to me."

"How was it like, talking to him?" Spencer asked curiously.

"Uh, not as bad as most students here would think. Pretty rotten mouth though. Doesn't hold back on the language."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Baby Tooth, now perched on his shoulder, give him a _You're one to talk_ look.

"Whatever, I'm done talking about this," Jack ended the subject. "I've got bigger things to worry about. Ariel's been ignoring me all day. I saw her multiple times, but she just avoided me like she's never spoken to me before."

"She's probably embarrassed by that little tabloid about you," Zander muttered. He was promptly ignored by Jack.

Spencer opened his mouth to offer his own input, but the bell rang at that moment. Everyone hurried to sit down in their seats, and Miss McCarthy cut right to the chase.

"Alright, so you know how I told you I would have my choices for our hosts today, correct?" She didn't wait for an answer though. "I've chosen Jackson and Anton."

There was a second with pure silence, then chaos erupted. The entire class was murmuring, but most of the noise came from the two chosen ones themselves.

"WHAT?!" Jack screamed.

"NOT HIM!" Anton fumed.

* * *

"Teachers... Love picking on the new kid..." Jack grumbled, kicking at nothing as he exited the classroom along with the twins.

"Come on, hosting isn't that bad," Spencer tried to assure. "They almost always enjoy themselves with it. Sure you have more work to do, but it'll all be worth it in the end."

"Right," Jack scoffed. "Me and Anton need to plan monologues, skits, the order of individual performances, and more." He counted that list off with his fingers. "And we have to do all that _together._"

Zander raised a brow. "So? What's the prob?"

"You guys see nothing wrong with that, since you're not the one he hates."

"I'm sure he doesn't hate you," Spencer contradicted. "He just hasn't gotten to know you yet."

"Just because he's Samson Fisher's best bud doesn't mean he's as bad as him," Zander agreed.

"Oh yeah, I didn't tell you guys what happened that day after cheerleading rehearsal, did I?" Jack sighed.

"No?" That came out of Zander's mouth like some kind of weird question.

"Never mind, it's nothing big." Jack stopped trudging. "McCarthy said that this whole middle school thing counts as 50% of our final grade." _Not that I would still be attending this school by the time semester grades are over. Just pretend that you really do care about your educational career, Jack._ "What if Anton pulls something nasty from up his sleeve and I fail?"

"I don't see why he would do that when both of you are going to receive the same grade on hosting," Spencer said skeptically. "And Anton cares about his grades a lot."

"Not surprising at all," Zander remarked.

"Why isn't it surprising?" Jack asked.

Zander and Spencer looked at him strangely. "Jack," Zander finally said. "If I were you, I would at least try to find out more about my cohost."

Jack was about to pry further on what exactly he didn't know about Anton, but a movement out of the corner of his eye that he immediately recognized spoke otherwise. "Uh, guys? Why don't you go on ahead, I just...remembered that I have to do something."

He didn't wait for an answer before running off after what he had seen. He turned the corner, to see Ariel walking away, her back facing him. "Ariel!"

Ariel turned around, but not all the way. Just one millisecond of the knowledge that Jack had found her was more than enough to make her break into a run. This was one of the many times she was thankful that she was a cheerleader. She didn't need to turn to realize that Jack was sprinting after her.

Jack ignored all the strange looks he may or may not have received as he ran after the girl. He was determined to find out why she had been staying clear of him, especially since she had treated him so warmly before. He finally caught up to her, and grabbed her wrist, which was decorated with two bangles. She tried to squirm herself out of his grip, but it was tight and not letting go soon. She stopped wriggling, and snapped wearily, "What?"

Jack wasn't fazed at all by her sharp attitude. In fact, he seemed more relieved than anything at how she was talking to him now. "You've been avoiding me for the whole day. Are you mad at me or something?"

"No," was the curt answer she gave. "Now let me go."

He loosened his hold, but didn't completely let go. "Ariel... I want reasons."

Ariel sighed. "Fine, stubborn." She pulled her hand free out of Jack's, and rubbed her wrist. "Look, you know about the newspaper thing, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"It's just... I don't think we should hang out anymore. You're the center of attention now that that newspaper came out with that article about you. I mean, it's good to be the center of attention, but not this way. I'm a pretty popular girl, and I don't know what people would think of me if they saw me with you."

Jack stared wide-eyed at her. "What about those carnival tickets you worked so hard to get?"

"We can still go," Ariel reassured. "It's not at school, so it's okay, even though chances are we might still run into one or two students."

"Oh..." Jack said quietly. "Right. Okay. I get it."

"Thanks. Sorry, by the way. If things turned out differently, it wouldn't be like this," Ariel said sympathetically.

"I...should go now," Jack muttered, and then turned to go. "Bye."

* * *

When Jack got home from school, he immediately stalked up to his bedroom and slammed the door shut. Jamie didn't know what exactly went wrong, but he assumed that the older boy was just venting after a very long day at school. He would be in a better mood by dinner time. However, when dinner time came, Jack simply came out of his room, fished some junk food leftovers out of the fridge, and went back. Needless to say, Mrs. Bennett grew concerned.

"Jamie, maybe you should go to his room and ask what's bothering him?" was what she asked her son to do.

Jamie went up the stairs and knocked tentatively on Jack's door. "Jack? Can I come in?"

No answer, so he cracked the door open a little bit. Right away, he was greeted by a series of desperate squeaks and chirps, and Baby Tooth suddenly appeared in front of him, looking very distressed.

"Oh, hey, Baby Tooth. What's up with Jack?"

She chirped again and pointed, which Jamie took as indication to go in, no matter if Jack objected of not. He opened the door a little more, and saw the unpleasant sight of Jack sipping up a fizzy drink (Since when did his mom approve of buying something that unhealthy? Maybe Jack bought it) with a straw. The winter spirit didn't even seem to notice the younger boy walk in until he looked up. "Sup, Jamie?"

"Mom's worried about you. Don't you want to come downstairs and eat with us?"

Jack sighed. "No thanks. I'd rather just stay here and drown myself in donuts and burgers."

Jamie's eyes widened in horror. "But you'll gain like 30 pounds if all you devour is junk food! You can't!"

"I'd rather be some fatso with a stomach full of lard than some emaciated guy who looks like he suffers from anorexia!" Jack exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air in frustration. "Fat people are common! But how many other guys at my school only weigh 117 pounds? None!" In a much more quiet tone, he added, "People think skinny seniors like me are an embarrassment."

"Jack, you're not an embarrassment."

"Thanks kiddo. I wish everyone else thought so too." Jack put a hand to his stomach. He cringed when he felt how small, how flat it was. "I'm from the late 1600's and he early 1700's. My stature used to be qualified as normal, but not anymore. I think you should head back down and tell your mom that I'm not hungry. Your food might grow cold."

Jamie left, Baby Tooth trailing behind him. Jack didn't even notice.

"Did something happen to him that I don't know about?" Jamie whispered to the tiny fairy once Jack's bedroom door was closed completely.

She just shrugged and chirped.

"I don't think we should worry too much about it. I don't think he would like it if we start fussing over him like a baby. And knowing him, he'll bounce back. Am I right?"

Baby Tooth smiled. _Right._

**...**

**...Oh, SUCK IT UP. It was only 2 weeks. I've gone 2 weeks without updating this before. I spent all last week working on my other stories which I have not updated in ages (One of them is a RoTG fic, so -cough- you should check that one out -cough-). Besides, this is a long chapter.**

**ANYWAY, I told you Jack was going to seem uncharacteristically stupid in this chapter. I did my best to do this without making him OOC, but apparently that's impossible. Prepare for more of this somewhat bulimic Jack next chapter. And I think most of you are starting to catch on to my plans with Anton.**

**I'm aware that about half of the people here are also following Hatsu Yukiya's To Have A Home, so listen up: Just because she used to update daily doesn't mean it's a required commitment of hers. She's been stressing out about school a lot more than she was a few weeks ago, and has been focusing on her actual grades more. So don't go thinking the story's discontinued/finished or anything like that (Why would you even think it's finished? Jeez). Some people have already started reviewing her story asking her to hurry up and update and how they're worried that there has been a supreme lack of writing from her lately. I understand why they would grow impatient like that (Heck, I'm dying for the next chapter of her story too, but I'm at least waiting), but if anything, it's just rude. Yup, I said it. You know, even we writers have lives sometimes, no matter how motivated we are. In fact, the reason why I was working so hard on my own chapters these past couple of days was because I didn't want to fall victim to that as well. She told me that she'll have the next chapter around today or tomorrow, so don't go fretting your butts off. Sillies. If you're wondering why the hell I know all this stuff, it's because I'm following her page on Facebook. Maybe you guys should too (Just don't forget about my own page -wink wink-). **

**Alright, I'm finally done venting. Time to reply!**

**RandomKrazyPerson: Hatsu and I are so similar, it's almost scary. I'm starting to suspect that she's my non-Asian twin who lives in Montana and is two years older than me. And in case anyone who reads this takes offense to my Asian comment, I'M ASIAN TOO.**

**Kaylee: Ariel has nothing to do with Jack's little paparazzi. Anton was the one who took that picture, because he was helping Samson.**

**Mystery Girl Who Writes: I don't believe that I have ever mentioned Jack kissing anyone in this story. At least, not yet.**

**agent000: Your reviews always make me happy. I am now requiring you to review every time a new chapter comes out.**

**Guest: I will bring the Guardians back in when they're supposed to come back in. Patience.**

**Maddie Seth: YOUR ART DESERVES TO BE ACKNOWLEDGED. Seriously, it does. By the way, I understand the whole projects thing, so it's cool. XD I'd just like to point out that his name has no P in it.**

**Sassy Shota: Zander deserves a hug. I'll let you give him a second hug if you go on deviantArt and look for MaddieSeth's drawing of him.**

**HotPink: Um. Please tell me you're not really asking me that lol.**

**Lovepuppy316: I'm NOT turning this into some lovey-dovey fic, 'cause I'm not one of those writers who likes to pair the main character up with a female OC in every story. And even when I do write romance, I tend to not make everything all kiss-kiss-kiss, because I have this thing for tsunderes (Look that up if you don't know what that means) and tough women who know how to handle a gun. SO HAVE MORE FAITH IN ME. And yes, Jack can have a shotgun. It just adds to his list of weapons which include a chainsaw, a mallet, and a bazooka. Don't worry, that last one will make an appearance at some point. AND I LIKE TO TORTURE YOU, SO NO.**

**Nika Nicolette: If I made Jack read Percy Jackson instead of Fifty Shades, I don't think it would be as amusing watching you guys freak out over that.**

**Review AGAIN.**


	16. In Which Jack Finds Out

**My predictions lead to the conclusion that this story will be 35 chapters long, or at least 30. If my updating rate continues to be like this, this will only be finished when I'm already out of school. I'll try to update faster from now on. No promises though.**

**Seriously though, I need to figure out a way to speed myself up. I mean, I still have a sequel I need to do... YES, THERE WILL BE A SEQUEL. NO, I WILL NOT TELL YOU WHAT IT'S ABOUT. YES, I KNOW WHAT I WANT TO DO FOR THE SEQUEL. NO, I WAS NOT ALWAYS PLANNING THIS. YES, I JUST THOUGHT IT UP TWO WEEKS AGO. NO, IT'S NOT SOMETHING YOU WOULD EXPECT.**

**Word of advice: Like my Facebook page, and maybe you'll figure out what I'm blabbing on about. Hatsu Yukiya knows, I'll give you that. Maybe you could ask her. Whether or not she tells you is all up to her. (Psst, Julia, if you suddenly get PMs, it has nothing to do with me)**

**Disclaimer: I so don't own Rise of the Guardians.**

"Are you sure he doesn't want to come down for breakfast?"

Jamie hesitated for a moment, and then nodded yes to his mother's question. Jack had once again insisted on staying in his room and cramming sweets into his mouth. Jamie tried to do him a favor and convinced his mom that this was something that would be short-lived, which he dearly hoped really would be.

Mrs. Bennett sighed. "Alright then. Once he comes down, could you tell him I need him to go out and buy groceries for me?"

"Sure."

When Jack came down, Jamie told him what he had to do.

"What am I, her errand manager?" Jack muttered, grumbling something while heading back upstairs to change.

Once he was at the supermarket, he wasted no time in getting what Mrs. Bennett wanted. He wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, because there was a girl about his age who worked part-time at the register who always flirted with him whenever she got the chance. He wasn't feeling up to dealing with her today, so he went to a different register to check out at. Of course, that didn't mean she didn't notice his presence, because she surely did. She probably would've went over to him if there hadn't a small line forming at her station, which Jack was immediately grateful for.

He was about halfway home when he saw a woman, probably around her 30's, having trouble carrying several boxes, all stacked up in a pile. He stopped walking to watch her for a minute or two, contemplating on helping her. He decided to go for it once he noticed that she almost dropped the box on top. He approached her and spoke, "Need some help?"

The woman cut even closer to dropping her boxes this time at the sound of a second voice. "Yes, please."

"So what are all these?" Jack asked, then gave a short grunt when he felt how heavy the biggest box, which was handed to him, was. He couldn't help but mutter, "And why isn't there a cart or something to carry this stuff around with you?"

"Furniture. Some of the rooms in my house are being remodeled." If the lady had heard Jack's second question, she showed no sure signs of it. "I ordered them the other day and I just picked them up."

There wasn't much talk, and before Jack knew it, they were at the lady's house, which wasn't really that far from Jamie's.

"Thanks for the help," the woman smiled gratefully at Jack as she began setting the boxes down on the front steps.

"Huh? Oh yeah, no problem," Jack shrugged, handing off the last of the boxes he was carrying to her.

"Are you a high school student? You look like one."

Jack blinked. "Uh, yeah. In the twelfth grade at Burgess High."

"Really? I have a son who goes there, and he's a senior too. He's inside right now—"

Before she could continue, the front door opened, revealing a person Jack least expected to see. Cody was the one who had opened the door, barefoot and clad in a black T-shirt and pajama pants as if he had just gotten out of bed.

"Home, Mom?" His eyes went over to Jack. "Oh hey, new kid."

Jack quickly masked his surprise and raised an eyebrow. _New kid? Since when did he start calling me that?_

"Oh, so you two are already friends?" Cody's mother sounded just as taken aback as Jack felt.

"We're not friends, Mom," Cody deadpanned, causing Jack to roll his eyes. "Just classmates who were forced to sit together in geometry."

_Is that an insult...? _Jack wondered, not knowing whether or not to feel offended by Cody's reply to his mom. But then again, this was a guy who was even more antisocial than he himself was, so he finally decided that it was just his own way with words.

While he was thinking this, Cody had went back inside and closed the door, not even looking back. His mother smiled apologetically at Jack. "Sorry about that. He doesn't mean to sound rude."

"No, it's okay," Jack brushed the apology off. "It's just natural for him, isn't it?"

Cody's mother sighed. "It is now, but he wasn't always this way."

There was a pause filled with silence. Jack eventually asked tentatively, What do you mean?"

"The past few years have been a little rocky for him. He was very sweet as a child, but ever since Carrie died, that sweetness died along with her."

There was a longer pause this time, and the older woman took it as a chance to hurry inside. Just as she was opening the door, Jack finally found the strength to speak. "Who's..."

She closed the door.

"...Carrie?"

* * *

_Who the heck is Carrie? His girlfriend?_ Jack thought as he walked along the sidewalk to the residence of the Bennetts. _No, wait, he came to Burgess when he was like thirteen or fourteen. And the twins already said he was already the way he is now on his first day here. So if he and this Carrie girl were really an item, he must've been like, what, twelve? Doesn't seem like the type to start crushing that early, so unlikely. Ugh, crap, my brain hurts so much._

"Hey! Jack!"

Jack turned his head to see he was in front of Zander and Spencer's house already, not having noticed due to his pondering about the mysterious Carrie. The twins were out in the front yard, punting a football back and forth between each other. There was a Steelers cap with the bill turned sideways on top of Zander's head.

"Hey guys," Jack greeted. "What's up?"

"Not much, just kicking this football since we got nothing better to do," Zander replied, picking said football up and fingering around with it in his hands.

"Yeah, I can see that. I was just on my way back home." Jack paused. "Hey, do you guys know whether or not Cody has had any romances before he transferred here?"

"Cody? You mean Cody Gay?" Spencer inquired.

"No, Cody Simpson," Jack deadpanned. "Yes, Cody Gay."

"Why are you always so sarcastic when I'm just trying to confirm who you're talking about so there aren't any misunderstandings?!" Spencer frowned. "Anyway, to answer your question, I don't think he did."

"Doesn't seem like the type," Zander added, not taking his eyes off of the football.

"Yeah, that's what I thought too..." Jack mused. "Look, long story short, I ran into his mom earlier and she mentioned this girl named Carrie and didn't say anything else about her except that she's deceased."

Zander, clearly picking up on Jack's train of thought, remarked, "If Carrie really was his girlfriend, she had to be around his age before he moved, which means she had to be somewhere around thirteen. Why would she be dead if that's the case?"

"Lots of ways. Car crash, plane crash, poison, natural causes, cancer, brain tumor, some other type of disease, fatal wound by shotgun or knife, drowning," Jack muttered that last possibility bitterly.

"I got the point when you mentioned poison, so you didn't need to name that many, sheesh."

"Something obviously happened to him before, and it has something to do with Carrie. There's no way he's just gonna fess up when I ask him about her. Can you guys help me with this?" Jack pleaded.

"Uh, sure," Spencer said, albeit sounding slightly skeptical.

"You seem to be very interested in this," Zander commented from the sidelines.

"So, um... Where were you yesterday?" Spencer asked, diverting the subject yet again.

Jack blinked twice, not knowing what he was talking about. "What?"

"You suddenly left yesterday. Did something happen?"

"Oh yeah, I saw Ariel and went after her."

Zander, who still was looking at his football, abruptly snapped his head up once he heard the mention of Ariel. "Did you catch her? What'd she say to you?" he asked anxiously.

Jack sighed gloomily. "She basically cut ties with me. She doesn't want to have anything to do with a guy who was gossiped about was pretty much what she said."

"And then?"

"She said we could hang out at the carnival on Tuesday, but that's it."

"Are you going to go?" Zander seemed to grow increasingly agitated as he continued listening.

"I might as well... I mean, she was nice enough to offer one last chance for us to hang out together, and I don't wanna just pass that up.

Zander stiffened, clenching his football tightly until it seemed about ready to combust. "You know what?" he said icily. "Forget it. I'm just not gonna care anymore. Go like whoever you want to like, 'cause I'm done." He turned around and trudged into his house, slamming the door behind him.

Jack stared at the spot where Zander stood only a few seconds ago, then turned to Spencer. "What was that all about?"

Spencer, who had been standing awkwardly while Zander lost his temper on Jack, said tentatively, "You...know he's a little touchy about the whole Ariel subject, right?"

"Yeah, I picked up on that when I first met her. Why?"

"She told you that they dated, right?"

"Yeah..." What was the point Spencer was trying to get at?

"Do you know why they broke up?"

Jack opened his mouth to reply but shut it again once he realized that he didn't. "How'd it happen?"

"They were acquainted with each other at first, and eventually she asked him out. Zander really did like her, but apparently she thought otherwise. Cici didn't know this, and she still doesn't, but Ariel didn't like her. Hated her, even. I'm not sure why she felt that way, but that doesn't matter much. She kind of had the impression that Cici liked Zander or something, and she was just using him to make Cici upset. Obviously it didn't work out that well since Cici really doesn't like him that way, and Ariel was about to dump him until Zander found out. So he ended up being the one dumping her."

Jack stared. Whatever explanation he had been expecting, that certainly was not it. Cici was involved with the mangle between Ariel and Jack? Furthermore, Ariel was a _bitch_?

"Evidently some girls don't like it when it's the guy breaking it off with them, so Ariel's trying to get back at Zander now by appealing to you," Spencer finished.

"...Why didn't you just tell me that?" Jack finally spoke up quietly. "I would've listened."

"I thought things might blow over eventually," Spencer admitted. "I was obviously wrong, considering my brother's mad at you now."

"Let me guess, he's not going to let it go the next time I see him this time, is he?"

Spencer shook his head. "Nope. He'll definitely forgive you if you break it off with Ariel. But whether or not you do that is completely up to you."

* * *

Baby Tooth, who had stayed home this time around, chirped excitedly when Jack came into the front door, but her ecstasy turned into concern when she saw that look on his face. Yes, _that_ look. The I'm-busy-trying-to-figure-something-out-so-don't-bother-me-if-you-don't-wanna-get-a-face-full-of-ice look. Well, not that he could attack someone with ice right now, but still.

"Hey Jack!" Jamie greeted, sitting with his friends, who were visiting for the millionth time.

"Hey Jamie, Pippa, Cupcake, Monty, Kevin, Caleb," Jack replied distractedly, not even bothering to look at them as he headed up the stairs to his room.

Claude frowned. "I'm Claude."

"I'm not falling for that," was Jack's answer, causing the younger boy's frown to deepen. "Where's your brother?"

"In your room."

Jack stopped and finally turned around, with an eyebrow raised. "Really?" he said flatly, deciding that he didn't want to know why. He went up the rest of the flight of stairs, opened his door, and went in. A few seconds later, he exited with Caleb casually hoisted over his shoulder, and set him down. "This room is now occupied." Jack went back in and slammed the door.

"What's his problem?" Kevin asked after a minute of awkward silence.

"High school social problems," Jamie answered with a sigh. "Boy, I am so not looking forward to graduating from middle school..."

* * *

"Does Jack still want to eat on his own in his room? I made corndogs."

Just like that morning, Jamie hesitated. He opened his mouth to answer and was about to get the words out until Jack actually came into the room.

"I'm here. I'd rather eat with you guys anyway. It's too quiet up there," he said casually.

Jamie stared at him for a moment, but the knowing look the older boy sent him prompted him to smile. However, just to make sure, he asked, "So you're actually not going to stuff your face in your room from now on?"

"Never again."

**...Excuse me, what's that? You're asking me why did this chapter take so long?**

**Well, if you must know, this chapter was dipshitted from the very core of the permanent stupidity that frequently lodges itself into my brain (Yeah, I'm sorry for the language, but I really do think that). If you translate that to English, it means that this chapter sucks ass, so I kept stalling on it. I tried to make it better, I really did, but this is the best that I can produce.**

**Also, I got absorbed in that Rio movie. I was absorbed in it before, but it faded, and now it's flaring back up again, mostly because they released the synopsis of Rio 2.**

**Anyway, like I said up there, there'll be a sequel. For those of you that think that a sequel isn't necessary, you're going to eat those words once you see what it's about. I guarantee you that. And I **_**really **_**recommend liking my Facebook page, because I talk and explain way more stuff on there. I've talked about my sequel, future stories, and I even complained about Romeo and Juliet and Tybalt's royal dickheadedness.**

**NEW POLL UP ON PROFILE. VOTE. Please? Remember to vote on your own this time, because I **_**really**_** don't want to start chewing you guys out again.**

**Reply time!**

**drawolftiger: You want the honest answer? In about twenty chapters. Possibly fifteen. This whole school stuff is part of the main plot too. So bear with me until then, please.**

**RandomKrazyPerson: You can hug Zander. The bazooka will appear soon. ;) ...Do you want to know something? Hatsu Yukiya challenged me to write a Jack/OC fanfic (Okay, so I told my Facebook page likers to challenge me to write a Jack/OC and then Hatsu simply obeyed. So it really is my fault). BUT I will make sure that it's not anything too lovey-dovey or fluffy. There's a lot of action in what I'm planning.**

**Randomness: Haha, it's okay, I didn't mind you reminding me to update, since you weren't being all whiny about it. I was mostly speaking out on Hatsu's part, since she was suffering from it more than I was.**

**Sorida: His hair makes Asians jealous? ...I see what you did there. ;D I've had my experience with fanfics that contain Mary-Sues/Gary-Stus, who are clearly very unrealistic people. -shudders- So I do my best to make my OCs as realistic as possible. Though I'm a bit worried that Cici might end up seeming like a Mary-Sue...**

**Dude: That's my writing style. Funny, disturbing, and sad.**

**agent000: ...And exactly how tall (or short) are you? I'm not that tall either, only 5'4". :P ...So **_**you're **_**nipperofnoses? I've seen you around Tumblr. I'm just very quiet on there. XD Your reviews are always so long, I can't even asdfghjk. This is why you're required to review every chapter.**

**YandereGoddess: Hm, nobody has been bringing up bisexual!Jack lately, so... Fine, I won't shave his head. -grumbles-**

**Nika Nicolette: Yes, Cici can. It'll be explained eventually.**

**likhitata: Well then I'm sorry that I took so long to produce such a crappy chapter. I really am. D:**

**Alya Starbright: I said that not everything on the list necessarily applies to Jack, and that suicide attempt thing is one of them. Jack's not going to sink that low.**

**nimbi-piru: I have **_**not**_** bought the movie yet. I'm still trying to convince my parents to take me to the store so I can get it, haha.**

**Review! And if you can, follow agent000's example and write a nice, long, juicy review.**

**And just this once, I won't mind bad reviews. That's how terrible I think this chapter really was.**


	17. In Which Jack Gets Stuck in an Argument

**Expect a lot of plot development in this chapter to make up for last chapter's boring content.**

**Remember: There's a sequel. I'm going to keep on saying that until it's imprinted into the very front of your minds.**

**Disclaimer: I no own Rise of the Guardians.**

Zander didn't let it go. He had avoided Jack all Monday morning and pretended that he wasn't there when Jack attempted to wave hello when they had run into each other during passing period. And of course, Jack consulted Cody in fourth period.

"He's mad at you," was the simple answer Cody gave.

"Gee, I never thought of that," Jack said flatly.

"I don't blame him though. I would be too, if I saw you be that dense when it comes to bitches. By the way, why are you even talking to me about this?"

"Uh..." The truth was that Jack had reasoned that talking more to Cody would make him open up more, or at least that was how it usually worked. He had been pretty determined to figure out what was bothering the poor guy before, but when he had finally heard a lead (which was the small mention of Carrie), it only created more questions and less answers. Jack then swore to himself that he wouldn't give up until he finally found out Cody's secret. It was nosy, but he just couldn't help himself. And besides all that, he just needed to ask for someone's input on Zander giving him the cold shoulder. Clearly, he could ask Spencer, but he couldn't see him till lunch, and he didn't feel like waiting that long. Not to mention that Zander was also going to be sitting with his brother, so asking about him when he was in hearing range was a big no-no.

Cody didn't wait for Jack to answer his question, much to the latter's relief. He really was brain-dead on excuses at the moment, and simply telling the truth was definitely something that would set anybody off.

* * *

When the long awaited lunch bell finally rang, Jack was one of the first ones out the door. He was in the middle of going down the hallway that led to the cafeteria when he ran into someone he _really_ didn't want to see. No, it wasn't Zander. It was Ariel.

"Oh, um... Hi," Ariel said nervously.

"...Hey." Jack didn't want to sound all monotone and unenthusiastic, but considering his latest findings about Ariel's true personality, he really couldn't help himself.

"Are you...going to the carnival tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'm going..."

"Alright then... Just making sure," Ariel spoke awkwardly. "So, I'll...see you there, right, Johnny?"

"We'll see."

Ariel frowned. _We'll see?_

"So we're not hanging out anymore after this, right?" Jack asked in a tone she couldn't recognize.

"No, is that okay with you?"

_Is that okay with me? What kind of dumb question is that?_ Jack though bitterly. Out loud, he said, "Sure it is. It wasn't at first, but now it is."

Ariel nodded approvingly. "I'm glad you could look over this. So I'll see you tomorrow at the entrance of the carnival after school, okay?"

"Sure, I'll be going..." Once Ariel went past him and was out of hearing range, his small, apologetic smile changed into a mischievous smirk. "...But will you be?" He fingered two carnival passes, which he had somehow swiped from Ariel sometime during their small talk. "This is what you get for calling me Johnny, hussy."

* * *

Lunch was very awkward, that was a given. Zander was still not speaking to Jack, and Spencer was just sitting there, torn between his brother and his friend. Things continued on like that until Jack couldn't take it anymore.

"Spencer, I'm just gonna go to my locker now, okay?" he said testily, starting to get up. "See ya in sixth period."

He exited the cafeteria without waiting for an answer, and went on his way. He had to pass the principal's office to reach his destination, and he passed by just as the front door opened.

Anton almost collided into Jack when he rushed out of the principal's front door. "Ugh, excuse me, newbie," he said disgustedly, before continuing on his way.

Forgetting where he was initially set on going, curiosity got the best of Jack. After casting a look in the direction that Anton went, he took a deep breath and went in, only to stop right in his tracks the second he laid a foot on the carpet flooring. He stared wide-eyed at Mr. Kaka, who was gently leading a goat—Yes, a goat!—from his personal office into the main room. Mr. Kaka looked up and noticed Jack's presence. "Oh, Jack. Hello! I'd like you to meet Larry."

"..."

"Larry, this is Jack, a new student here. Say hi."

Larry simply bleated.

The goat's noise was all it took for Jack to confirm to himself that he wasn't just having a mass hallucination of farm animals. "Holy shit," he deadpanned. He didn't think it was possible, but at the moment he really didn't care that he just swore in front of the principal. On his shoulder, Baby Tooth was shaking with silent laughter.

Mr. Suzuki popped his head out from the doorway of his own office. "Did I just hear the S word being used out here?" His eyes fell on Jack. "Was it you?"

"Oh, come on! How is it possible for _any _student to _not_ say that when they suddenly walk in and see their wacky principal handling a random goat thing?!" Jack threw his hands up in the air.

Mr. Kaka sniffed, wiping away any unshed tears that could've reached his eyes. "You all don't understand the loveliness of our goat population..."

Mr. Suzuki motioned for Jack to enter his office. "You might want to come in or you'll be stuck standing there for the next two hours listening to him rant about goats and possibly chickens."

Jack entered the smaller office just as Mr. Kaka started saying something about goat milk, the man not even taking in the fact that the person he was trying to speak to wasn't listening and entering his assistant's domain.

Once Mr. Suzuki shut the door, Jack immediately exclaimed, "You told me Larry the Goat was imaginary! Call me crazy, but I don't think that goat out there was very imaginary!"

Mr. Suzuki faced Jack with a raised eyebrow. "And how would you think the students would react if they knew that their school mascot was a real, live goat?"

Jack had to admit he had a point. Wait, Larry was the school mascot? ...Not surprising at all.

"Not a lot of students come in here, and Larry doesn't come out a lot, so only a few students, now including you, know about this," Mr. Suzuki continued. "Trust me, I myself didn't even know about it until the second year I was the vice principal."

Jack crossed his arms. "Uh huh. Now tell me again why that excuse of a human is our very eccentric principal?"

Ignoring his question, Mr. Suzuki asked a question of his own, "So why are you here?"

Remembering his reasons, Jack began to explain a little awkwardly, "Well... I saw this guy storm out of here and I nearly bumped into him, and he seemed pretty peeved about something. And... I don't know. It's pretty nosy of me, but I wanted to see what was bothering him so much, you know what I mean? Judging by the look on his face, it was as if something huge happened."

"And by 'this guy,' do you mean Anton?"

Jack nodded.

Mr. Suzuki exhaled audibly. "Jack, I just had an argument with Anton. In fact, it was about you."

"What? Me?" Jack asked, surprised.

"Yes, you. You're aware of how you're paired up with him for your little performance art hosting project, right?"

"I wouldn't say the project is little..." Jack muttered.

"Anton had just come in to complain to me about how unfair it was to have him work together with you on something this big. I hate to be this blunt, but you're not his favorite person in this world."

"Like I never noticed that." Jack couldn't help but have sarcasm lace into his tone. Luckily, Mr. Suzuki didn't seem to mind all that much.

"Usually, the hosts are a boy and a girl, and they're from separate periods of the class," Mr. Suzuki didn't stop explaining. "And I told Anton that I had phoned Miss McCarthy and convinced her to give the two positions to you two."

Jack did a double take. _What now?_

"Now before you ask, I did that because I saw what was in the school paper the other day."

Jack had a feeling that he was talking about that little tabloid that had accused him for having an eating disorder, so he questioned, "What did..._that_ have to do with Anton?"

"Everything. You do realize that he was the one who took the photo that went along with that article, don't you?"

"...You mean he was the one who..." Jack trailed off.

"No, he's not on the newspaper team at all," Mr. Suzuki shot down Jack's suspicion without any hesitation. "I'm assuming he only assisted in it. Erik Chou wasn't the one who published it either. He's much too mature to do that."

"Well then if you know so much about what really happened, then who's the actual culprit?" Jack nearly shouted that, but marked it unwise to yell at the vice principal, even if he only was the vice.

"I have a pretty good idea on who it is, but I'm not allowed to say anything since there's no proof that he's the one who did it."

"Then can't you at least tell me who you _think_ is the bad guy here?" Jack didn't know what was aggravating him so much, but he couldn't help but be so impatient.

"I still can't say his name," Mr. Suzuki still refused, much to Jack's chagrin. "But I can tell you this: It's someone you know. Someone who you don't like. In fact, I think I recall some news about you breaking his nose during winter break."

Samson Fisher. Of course it was him. It took all of Jack's mental strength to not growl like a vicious animal spotting its prey. Instead, he asked out loud, "You do realize that you've just given me the answer I wanted, even though you said you couldn't, right?"

"I never said I couldn't give you the answer, I just said that I couldn't say his name." Mr. Suzuki walked over to his desk and sat down on his chair. "I've never approved of that boy. He's a bad influence on Anton. From what I've heard from students around campus, you're pretty friendly, so I paired you two up to show him that he's liking and disliking the wrong people here. Are you up to it?"

Jack pretended to think about it. "Totally."

Mr. Suzuki nodded. "Good."

As if on cue, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Mr. Suzuki gestured toward the closed door. "You ought to go now. I don't want to hold you back and get you late for your next class."

Once Jack was out of the administrative office, he whispered to Baby Tooth while on the way to his locker, "I already had to take care of Cody, and now the vice principal just basically assigned me to crack a second nutshell. It's like I'm everyone's therapist or something like that."

Baby Tooth just giggled.

It was only when Jack was twisting his locker combination did he start wondering why Mr. Suzuki seemed to know and care so much about Anton's attitude and behavior.

* * *

When Jack entered his sixth period class, he saw Zander and Spencer talking and went over to them right away. "Hey guys."

Zander gave Jack a flat look. "I'm still not talking to you."

"What? You just did!" Jack protested.

Zander must've thought that Jack had a point because he didn't reply again.

Jack frowned and opened his mouth to speak again, but a hand roughly grabbed his shoulder. He jumped and whipped around to see a very moody Anton.

"You, me, my house, preparation for this whole thing, Wednesday," he spoke out through gritted teeth.

Jack nodded slowly. "Okay then..."

Anton stormed off to his seat (with Baby Tooth glaring at his back) while Jack sat down in his own wearily. He covered his face up in his hands. "Another long day..." he moaned.

"Did...he just order you to meet with him on Wednesday without even asking if you have any plans first?" Spencer questioned tentatively.

* * *

It was the first day that all the performance art classes met for the upcoming middle school play (They were to meet on Mondays and Fridays). Jack, being the usual student-ignorant person he was, almost passed out when the two other classes came in, because Cody happened to be included.

"CODY IS—" Jack put his head in his hands. "You have gotta be freaking kidding me..."

On his shoulder, Baby Tooth looked at him funny.

"What? You're surprised that he has first period?" Spencer asked. "Before you knock yourself out, I'll have you know in advance that Cici is in third period for this class. She's not here today since she's gone to Italy on short notice. Her grandmother suddenly passed away and she has to go to the funeral. She'll be back next week."

"I know she's not here today. I have PE with her, remember?" Jack replied irritably, then peeked an eye out at his friend. "How do you even know she's gone to Italy? She might just be sick."

Spencer blushed. "I hear from people..."

Jack looked at him suspiciously. "Are you sure you're not secretly dating her behind our backs or anything?"

Spencer looked offended. "Why would I keep that a secret from all you people?!"

Jack raised his arms defensively. "Hey, just wondering."

"Were you guys just talking about me?"

Jack and Spencer jumped in their seats and turned to face Cody, who was suddenly next to them. Seeing who it was, Jack thought he saw Spencer slightly scoot his chair away.

"Of course we weren't," Jack answered coolly. "What makes you think we were?"

Cody crossed his arms. "'Cause I heard my name being shouted out across the room? I'm not deaf, new kid."

Baby Tooth frowned. She didn't like how this guy was referring to Jack as 'new kid' (especially since he wasn't really that new anymore). Besides, she already was a little wary about Cody, because really, he was a little intimidating. It was no wonder that he didn't have friends.

Jack shrugged. "I admit I mentioned you, but I was just surprised that you were in this class. That's all."

Anton, who had been strolling by during that second, casually put in his own input, "For once, I'm not gonna blame him for not knowing you were in this class. Considering you're an outcast, I don't think any new kid would."

Cody diverted his attention to Anton and narrowed his eyes. "Was I talking to you?"

"Was I forbidden to offer my opinion?"

"If your opinion involves you using your shitty mouth and spitting out the crap that almost always spews itself out, then yes, you were forbidden."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait..." Jack tried his best to prevent an oncoming fight. The two boys were standing on either side of him slamming each other, so he and Baby Tooth were just looking back and forth between them as if they were sitting very near to an intense tennis match.

"Oh, then excuse me, police officer. You can arrest me now," Anton said sardonically.

"Let's calm down here for a sec..." Jack could feel the temperature dropping ten degrees during each insult the two other boys were shooting at each other.

"Look, if you would _please _just keep your damn mouth shut for one day, I wouldn't hate you so much. But obviously, hell would freeze over before that happens." That was Cody.

Anton rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. Like I would 'keep my damn mouth shut' when it comes to you."

"And why do I have to be the one to deal with it?"

Hearing that their voices were starting to raise, Jack decided to put a stop to the quarrel before it really got out of hand. "GUYS!" he yelled.

"WHAT?!" Cody and Anton angrily shouted at Jack, glaring at him.

Jack really couldn't blame himself for being terrified for his life when he saw the sharp looks he was receiving. "Uh, nothing," he said weakly. "Carry on arguing."

Baby Tooth gave him a disbelieving look, as if to say, _You went through all that trouble to get their attention and then you tell them to CARRY ON?_ Jack clearly noticed her, but decided to ignore her since he wasn't alone in the room.

"Jack, you should just give up," Spencer spoke for the first time since the ensuing spat. "Everyone in the school knows that they despise each other just as much as you and Samson do, if not more."

"One day one of them is gonna bust the other in the eye," Zander said, momentarily forgetting about his resolution to not speak to Jack. Either that, or he was just talking to himself in particular.

"Well why isn't McCarthy doing something about it?" Jack asked.

"They're practically inseparable when they argue," Spencer explained. "Don't think that just because McCarthy is a teacher means that she can be capable of putting a stop to them. All anyone can do is wait until one of them gets bored of yelling at each other."

"And exactly how long will that take?"

"About an hour."

"But this meeting ends in an hour!"

"Which is why I said an hour. Their longest record is two and a half hours. I only know that because there was one time during junior year that they argued out in the hallway when they ran into each other and completely forgot that they had classes they had to go to. The classroom right next to them couldn't concentrate at all since they were shouting so loudly, and then someone somehow put a hidden camera into the wall and recorded the whole thing, and now it's on YouTube." Spencer turned to his brother. "How many views does it have again?"

"The last time I checked, 200,000," Zander replied.

Jack's eyes widened. "Were their insults really that interesting to get that many?"

Spencer shrugged. "Don't look now, but Anton can really go up against Cody."

Jack focused his attention on the argument again, which had grown even louder. He had to note that the words were also growing more and more colorful on both sides by the second. He turned back to Spencer with a look of sheer horror on his face. "And I'm just gonna be sitting between these two for the rest of the meeting?!"

Spencer shrugged again. "Pretty much, yeah."

"I can't do that! I'm already suffering here!"

"Well I'm not gonna go in there and save you and get tangled up in it as well! Besides, Cody scares me. You're on your own, pal."

* * *

Jack sluggishly dropped his backpack at the front door the second he walked in. Baby Tooth flew off into the backyard to play with Wynter, who curiously enough could see her, though it may have had something to do with her being an animal. Jamie was sitting on the sofa watching a movie. "I'm tired," he said exhaustedly.

Jamie cast a short glance at him. "I can see that."

Jack went over and sat down wearily. "Worst school day ever. And that's saying something."

"Mmhm."

"What movie are you watching?"

"Finding Nemo." Jamie turned his head, only to see Jack looking at him expectantly. He sighed. "Why are you tired?"

Jack suddenly seemed much more satisfied. "Zander's on non-speaking terms with me, at lunch my vice principal instructed me to to make this guy nicer, and for the past hour, said guy and the school outcast were engaged in a heated conversation about who sucks more and I was stuck between them. Literally."

"Couldn't you have left sometime during the argument?"

Jack slumped down. "Not if I wanted to kill myself. But on the bright side," he suddenly regained his energy and sat up straight, much to Jamie's bewilderment. "I got two tickets to the carnival tomorrow. Wanna go with me?"

Disregarding the invitation, Jamie asked weirdly, "Didn't you look like you were about to pass out just five seconds ago?"

"Just answer the stupid question!" Jack took the passes out of his back pocket and waved them in front of Jamie's face.

Seeing the tickets triggered Jamie's mouth to break into a wide grin. "Shoosh, yeah!" He snatched a ticket and called to the kitchen, "Mom, I'm going to the carnival tomorrow!"

"Have fun!" Mrs. Bennett called back, laughing.

**THIS...was a chapter I really enjoyed writing, which is mostly why I pooped it out so fast. Also, I'm proud that it's not utter crap like last time. There were a lot of things in this chapter that I had really been looking forward to typing for quite a while (meaning Jack's conversation with Suzuki and the insight on Cody and Anton's...relationship) since this is the chapter where the plot and character development really starts kicking in. This whole Ariel thing was simply a warm-up.**

**So now I've started both Cody and Anton's character developments. Coolio. **

**By the way, if it wasn't clear... Yes, Cici's half-Italian.**

**By the way, I still need more votes on my poll.**

**Speaking of polls, I need to ask you guys something. Would you find it weird if Jamie ended up being Jack's kid?**

**Have I ever stated that Cody's my favorite OC out of all the others? (He's just so amusing) I'm probably going to say that over and over again throughout chapter updates.**

**GUYS CAN ONE OF YOU JUST DRAW FAN ART OF JACK POLE DANCING.**

**My fingers are red from eating Hot Cheetos.**

**Review reply time!**

**agent000: ...Your reviews are growing longer and longer, and I'm not gonna stop appreciating them anytime soon. Here in California, not a lot of people are particularly tall either. I'm guessing it's the time zone that affects that (though I doubt it). Hatsu's 5'9"... That's just unfair. Fun roleplaying as Jack, isn't it? I would know that, since I used to roleplay on Facebook too. You know, until both of my roleplay accounts were disabled. Well I think Zander would explain why he didn't tell Jack his story with Ariel somewhere in the next chapter, but just in case he doesn't, I'm just going to say right now that he probably didn't want to explain because he couldn't without remembering what happened two years ago with his own relationship. That's the best I can come up with. (Maybe I wasn't being too discreet on who Carrie is...) I guess one reason why I hated the last chapter so much was because I pretty much hated the whole Ariel mini-plot. When I first thought of it, I decided to put it in, but then I type it and think to myself, "Ya know, this looked better when it wasn't publicly posted on the Internet." Jack was a dense overreacter and way too OOC for my liking. Finally, I'll message you on Tumblr soon. Soon as in right now. There, I sent you a 'question.'**

**Maddie Seth: HOLY SHI– I've been procrastinating on sending you Samson's description, and I'M SO SORRY. D: Alright, I'll tell you via here before laziness takes over again. He's...taller than Jack and everyone else... Okay, I haven't really thought about what he looks like... Maybe he should be blonde. I don't think I have a blonde guy in my OC list yet. (Let me check, Zander and Cody are raven-haired, Spencer is a brunette like Jack, Anton is a redhead like Pippa... Yup, the only other blonde OC is Cici, so yeah, Samson's blonde). Other than that, I don't really care what he looks like, so you've got a little freestyle right for this request. ;) Also, pet goldfish? Really? XD I picture Cody to have a snake as a pet. Jussayin'.**

**PuppetMaster55: ...DUDE. I'm so putting that into the sequel.**

**RandomKrazyPerson: Weren't the fanfics always flowing? Also, just to give you a little overview for my Jack/OC fic, it's not anything like 'A-girl-ends-up-being-able-to-see-Jack-and-they-fall-in-love', because I find that cliche. If you saw my new poll, it's one of the choices listed there. The one with the secret human organization... It's called Undercover... You don't remember? No? Okay. Let me put it this way: If you went to go see Warm Bodies and liked it, then you'll most likely enjoy my fanfic. I drew all my inspiration for the fanfic from that particular movie. Anyway, if you still only want to read a little bit, that's fine with me.**

**Nika Nicolette: ...Yup. I definitely wasn't being very discreet on Carrie.**

**Moonstar Daughter of Hades: I just updated. By the way, you should go check out her new story, Winter Nights -coughcough-**

**Lovepuppy316: As you can see, Jack did neither of those things. He stole her tickets. :P ...You...You think that Carrie is Mr. Immo Blobhead? -eye twitch- BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA No. Just no.**

**Randomness: DON'T FEEL BAD. D:**

**Dude: Oh, so you like Rio too? :D Did you see the synopsis they just recently released? If you didn't, Blu and Jewel are going to the AMAZON! Better yet, THE ENTIRE CAST IS COMING BACK! -squeal then cough- So uh, yeah. By the way, totally check out my new Rio story. -wink and nudge- Anyway, about Jack going back to normal... -side glance- Too bad you don't have an account (or you just don't log in) because if I could reply to you **_**privately**_**, I would tell you my plans since you seem worthy of knowing.**

**YandereGoddess: You just updated Cupid. Just knowing you almost had a heart attack leaves me very satisfied because that was my goal: freak my reviewers out. Yup, I'm sadistic. Anyway, sure you can leave a review as long as agent000's. just write a bunch of random stuff down. Doesn't have to be relevant. **

**As the genuine author of this story, I demand all of you to review.**


	18. In Which Jack Educates Jamie on Puberty

**Alright, there are a couple things I need to clarify. This is important, or else I wouldn't be putting it at the top here.**

**1. A lot of you have been questioning me about when Mr. Immo Blobhead (I've decided to start calling him that) will make his comeback. I know you guys want to see him again, and I'm sorry to say that there's still quite a while before he attacks. He's still wandering everywhere searching for Jack (There are BILLIONS of people in this world, you can't blame him). On the other hand, the Guardians are still trying to protect Jack, even though they're not in contact with him. This story is almost all from Jack's point of view, so if he doesn't notice that the Guardians are nearby... Then they don't appear. I haven't been steering the plot away from the Guardians by accident. I've been carefully planning this ever since the very first chapter, I've been thinking hard about what should happen and when it should happen, and I've even been counting the weeks it's been since Jack has lost his powers. In short, I know what I'm doing. I'm not going to forget about Jack's predicament by getting too caught up in high school drama, and I'm telling you this now before it starts pissing me off. Ya know, 'cause that's the right thing to do. Now that you've been informed, it won't be my problem if I end up setting my computer on fire the next time someone asks me this question.**

**2. I asked if it would be a good idea if Jamie turned out to be Jack's kid. Now when I said that, I meant Jamie is Jack's kid, not his great-great-whatever-nephew or anything like that. His blood-related son. ((HEY, IT MAKES SENSE!)) Before anyone who's against it jumps to conclusions, it's **_**not**_** something that's going to be in this story. I just had a plot bunny a few days ago about this and I'm wondering if I should seize the chance to create a brand new story centering around it.**

**I'm very candid when I vent. I think most of you have caught on to that.**

**Disclaimer: I don't need to do this, but I'm doing it anyway because it's a force of habit. I don't own Rise of the Guardians.**

"No."

Spencer stared Zander down. "Yes."

"No," Zander stubbornly refused again.

Spencer scowled. He hadn't went to the trouble of getting two of the last carnival tickets just to get this response. "If you don't go, I will tell everyone at school _and _on Facebook that you streaked across the local park with nothing but tighty-whities on during your freshman year. Oh, and you enjoyed it."

Zander looked at his brother, his eyes wide in horror. Who knew he could be so evil? "That never happened!"

"Exactly. So are you going or not?"

Zander sighed in defeat. "Fine, you win. But, if we run into Jack and Ariel, then it's not my fault if I end up strangling them both."

Spencer rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. I admit Jack was being a bit stupid about Ariel, but I'm pretty sure he caught on by now," he said, sounding a lot less nervous than he felt. _I hope._ He had prayed that Jack had made the right decision, but after knowing Jack for a few weeks, it was made clear that he sometimes tended to...do dumb stuff.

Zander looked at him tiredly. "What makes you say that?"

"Er..." Spencer decided it best if his twin kept unaware of the explanation he had given Jack. As long as Zander was mad at their friend, then he probably wouldn't be too happy with Spencer either if he found out that the latter had blabbed about his personal love life. "Intuition."

Zander gave him a suspicious look, but dropped the subject anyway.

* * *

As usual, Jack was one of the first ones out of the school building once the bell rang. He was fueled by the euphoria of going to see a carnival, which he had never been to before in any of his lives. Sure, he had seen one take place whilst sitting on the sidelines, but he had never actually participated in one.

Across the street, the middle school also dismissed its fellow students. Jack waited by the high school gates, trying to spot Jamie. Soon enough, he saw who he wanted to see (along with his friends), put his hand up in the air, and waved. Jamie saw him, said something to his friends, and crossed the street to meet up with Jack. He grinned. "Hey. The twins were all upset since I got to go to the carnival with you and kept on complaining about it throughout the day."

Jack smirked. "It's their fault for not having an older brother figure who's nice enough to give them what they want. I spoil you, you know that?"

"Last time I checked, you liked spoiling me."

"Good point. So what, you wanna drop our school stuff at your house before heading off to the carnival?"

"Sure!"

Once they got home and entered the front door, Mrs. Bennett was waiting for them there, holding Sophie in her arms. "Hey, I found out that children under the age of 7 are free of charge. Do you two mind taking Sophie along with you?"

Jamie frowned. "Mom..."

"Jamie, your sister's 4, but she shouldn't be too much trouble. I want her to go out with you and have some fun. What do you think, Jack?"

Jack seemed a bit skeptical. "I don't know... I mean, something might happen. Something that'll ruin her innocence. I know I sound like I'm making excuses, but I really do think that. It happens more often than you think."

Mrs. Bennett raised an eyebrow. "If that's the case, then you find it okay to take my young son but not my daycare daughter?"

"Mom, I'm 11! I'm already in middle school! Whatever happens, I think I'll be able to handle it!" Jamie exclaimed, a slight blush creeping up onto his face.

Jack lifted a hand and ruffled the younger boy's hair. "Yeah, he's at the age where his body is going to start developing. In fact, I bet his teachers are educating him right now about what every guy has to go through during the process of growing up. Hormones, facial problems, and puberty are basically the sum of it all."

Jamie gave him a weird look, Baby Tooth looked like she'd rather not know what he was talking about, and Mrs. Bennett sighed. "Jack, please. I still think it would be best if you would take Sophie along with you. And even if anything innocence-threatening happens like you suspect would happen, then just keep her from seeing it. That's a simple thing to do, isn't it?"

"Uh..."

"You're eighteen years old, which classifies you as a legal guardian of children. I'm sure I can count on you."

_I am technically a Guardian, but not _that_ type of guardian..._ Despite those thoughts, Jack gave in, "Fine, I'll take her."

Mrs. Bennett smiled satisfactorily, glad that she finally got her way. "Good." She handed Sophie to Jack, and added, "Just remember to be back home in time for dinner."

"We will," Jamie said begrudgingly, not happy that he and Jack now had his little sister to watch over.

Once they were outside, Jamie instantly turned toward Jack. "'Hormones, facial problems, and puberty'? I know about the puberty and the hormones, but facial problems?"

Jack shrugged. "Hey, don't look now, but once puberty hits, you're going to get pimples. I'm sorry, but you're gonna look a bit uglier than normal during those stages."

"And you would know that how...?"

Jack gave him a deadpan stare. "Zits already existed back in the colonial times, Jamie. I'm just glad I didn't turn into Jack Frost during the middle of my own development, because I looked like an utter catastrophe."

"...So I'm gonna stay like this until my body decides it's time, then I turn hideous, then I come out looking something like you."

Jack shrugged again. "Eh, pretty much. This is my advice to you: Do _not_ get your picture taken once it starts kicking in. I'm serious, don't."

"...Are you here to give me the talk or are you here to take me to the carnival?"

Jack patted Jamie's head. "The talk is reserved for your mother, not me, to talk about, kiddo. By the way, she should be giving it to you any day now, especially since I just brought it up in front of her."

Jamie laughed sarcastically. "Wow, gee, thanks."

* * *

"This place is awesome!" Jamie's eyes widened the minute he stepped in, absorbing in the sights of all the booths, the prizes people were winning, and most of all, the gigantic circus that loomed over everything and everyone.

Jack smirked in amusement. "Duh. What'd you expect from a carnival?"

Jamie opened his mouth to reply when out of the corner of his eye, he spotted one of the Anderson twins. He grinned and shouted, "Hey, Spencer!" while waving. Spencer, having heard his name called, looked their way and noticed Jamie. He smiled and waved back...until he saw Jack, who was still carrying Sophie. His face transformed into one of utter confusion, and he kept glancing back and forth between him and Jamie. He finally decided to react and grabbed someone's arm, someone who was hidden from Jamie and Jack's point of view. He pulled whoever it was closer to him, revealing it to be Zander. Zander seemed a bit annoyed by how Spencer just roughly grabbed him, but his peeved look immediately faded once he saw who Spencer was motioning to. If Spencer acted shocked, he was nothing compared to Zander. Jack, seemingly unfazed, only smiled softly and gave a small wave back. Zander, slowly catching on that Ariel was absent for a reason, tried to fight down a huge grin that was threatening to making its way onto his face, but it still leaked out a bit. The next thing Jack knew, Zander was right in front of him, demanding, "Explain. Now."

"Jamie's a good substitute for a carnival companion," Jack smirked.

Jamie blinked, not understanding what was going on. "Substitute?"

Jack's response was all it took for Zander to give up trying to force down the huge smile that almost split his face in half. He pumped his fists into the air. "WOOHOO!"

Spencer, who had followed Zander, noticed a few bystanders giving his brother odd looks. "I don't know him," he said flatly to them.

Zander, ignoring him, suddenly appeared extremely hyperactive and exclaimed excitedly to Jack, "OhmygodyouhavenoideahowlongI 'vebeenwantingtohearyousaytho sewordsIcan'tbelieveyoufinallyfoundout—Wait, how did you find out?"

Jack gave Spencer a look of question, as if to say, _You didn't tell him?_ Spencer just coughed guiltily as a reply. Zander, catching on to the obvious implication, shot a dirty look at his brother for a second, but it quickly faded. "You know what, I don't really care right now. Just give me the deets!" He whirled on Jack again.

"I am so lost," Jamie remarked blankly.

"I don't pickpocket, but I know how to do it," was Jack's subtle explanation. He gave Zander, who immediately caught on, a knowing look. However, Spencer's expression only matched Jamie's bewildered one. Noticing both of them, Jack sighed. "I stole Ariel's carnival tickets."

Spencer's face lit up with understanding, while Jamie's remained the way it was for the past few minutes. "Oooooooohhhhhhh."

"Who's Ariel? Can someone tell me what I'm missing out on?" Jamie said impatiently.

"Long story short, I did something stupid," Jack said curtly. "I'll give you the full story once we get home. But for now, we're here to be having fun."

"Yeah, you were being a pretty big idiot," remarked Zander from the sidelines, earning him a dirty look from his brother.

"Zander!"

"Well he was!"

Jack rolled his eyes. "You guys."

"Whatever, change of subject," Zander said swiftly. "What'd I miss out on while I was giving you the silent treatment? Which you totally deserved, by the way," he added, leading to Spencer swatting him on the back of the head.

Jack winced. "Yeah, I did," he replied sheepishly. "Well I'm going to Anton's house tomorrow. He told me that yesterday, and I'm not sure if you heard us or not, since you were sitting nearby."

"Oh yeah, I heard," Zander nodded. "Good luck dying."

"Wooooow. Okay, thanks, I— Wait, what?!" Jack's initial sarcastic reply turned into one full of fear.

"I don't think he ever told you his address, which means he's picking you up. In his car."

"Uh huh..." Jack slowly nodded, not getting what his friend was trying to say."

"Have you even _seen_ Anton drive?!"

"No..."

Zander stared at Jack. "Oh yeah. You're screwed."

"What? Is he a bad driver or something?"

"He drives like 40 miles an hour."

"...So? That isn't too ba—"

"_In the student parking lot._"

"...Oh."

"Yeah. _Oh._ You know what that means then, right?"

"...He drives about 100 miles out on the road?"

Zander nodded. "Yup. And remember, that's just out on the road. Who knows what he's like out on the freeway?"

Jack shuddered. "Stop, you're gonna make me sick. And how do you even know about his driving habits?"

Zander shrugged. "I've seen him pass by. By the way, I think he lives on the other side of town. So don't think the ride will just last 30 seconds."

Jack held a hand to his stomach. "Oh boy... I think I'm about to lose my lunch just thinking about it..."

"Alright, we don't need anyone puking right now, so let's just go, shall we?" Spencer butted in before Jack would get the chance to start turning green. "The circus is about to start its show, so do you guys wanna go? The thing's totally free."

"Sure!" Jamie was the first to agree, also not willing to see Jack's stomach flip upside down. He grabbed Jack's hand and began tugging. "Come on, Jack, let's go!"

"Uh, sure, let me just calm my intestines down—" His cell phone started ringing, so he took it out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID. "—and answer this," he finished on a flat tone complete with an unreadable expression. He answered his call by saying, "Hey Ariel it's Jack look I'm sorry that you lost your tickets but I'm really not so don't call me back cuz I'm done with you and I'm at the carnival with my friends now bye." He hung up without waiting for a response, and he looked at his friends. Jamie looked confused, Spencer had his eyebrows raised, and Zander just had that certain constipated look on his face that just indicated that he was trying very hard not to burst out laughing.

"So what are we waiting for?" Jack asked cheerfully, as if nothing just happened. "Are we going or what?" Sophie, who was long forgotten, began playing with his hair. He looked at her. "Oh wait, I forgot she was here."

"How can you forget when you're carrying 40 pounds of human like that?" Jamie questioned disbelievingly.

Jack gave him a look. "Once you turn eighteen, 40 pounds becomes as light as air to you."

"But still, I don't think it's very convenient if you carry her around like that," Spencer objected. "I think there are strollers around here." He looked around and spotted an entire row of them. "I'll bring it over." He hurried over to the baby carriages.

"I feel like an awkward teen mom," Jack muttered, not meaning for anyone to hear him. Sadly, Zander did.

"That's strange, I thought you _were_ one."

This remark earned him a kick to the shin.

* * *

"That circus show was a ripoff," Zander grumbled as the group sat down on a round table eating fries. "No wonder it's free."

"Aw, come on, it wasn't _that_ bad..." Spencer tried to protest, but then paused. "Alright, it was. I'm sorry, but I don't wanna lie. What'd you think, Jack?"

"That clown was naked," Jack deadpanned, shooting glances at the Bennett siblings as he sipped his soda. Sophie seemed perfectly fine, but Jamie was visibly scarred. His eyes were unblinkingly wide and the movements he was making as he was eating fries were so robotic it wasn't even funny. "Jamie, are you sure you're the sibling that's tough enough to handle the censored stuff?"

Jamie shook out of his stupor and retorted, "Sophie would've been affected too if you hadn't shielded her eyes from the scene!"

"One, she's a girl and isn't allowed to look at nude male clowns. Two, she's four years old...and isn't allowed to look at nude male clowns," Jack answered monotonously.

"She's not allowed to look at nude male clowns! I get that! But what about me?! You made no effort to hide me from the R-ratedness!"

"I don't think ratedness is a word..." Spencer trailed off.

"Spencer, just shut up," Zander spoke, enjoying the current banter.

"Excuse me, but I recall the faint memory of you telling your own mother that you would be able to handle it whatever was thrown at you." Traces of an amused smile was starting to make his way onto Jack's lips.

"Clowns who don't even have underwear on was _not_ on my mind when I said that!"

"Doesn't matter." Jack reached for a fry, only to notice that there were no more. "Uh, wasn't the tray still like half-filled two minutes ago?"

"Zander's a fast eater," Spencer simply said.

"You guys were busy talking, and Spencer didn't want anymore, so I thought I could have the rest!"

"Without asking me first." Jack glared at Zander, but it immediately faltered. "Let's just go now. I don't wanna run into that clown again."

Jamie cringed. "I second that." He grabbed the handles of Sophie's stroller and began pushing her as the other three got up from their seats.

Of course, a minute later as they were heading for the exit, they passed by the circus entrance. Standing at the entrance was the clown they had been trying hard to avoid.

"For the record, you totally jinxed us," Zander mumbled to Jack.

"TIME TO PLAY PEEKABOO, SOPH!" Jack shouted and slapped a hand over Sophie's eyes. Sophie, misunderstanding the situation, giggled and said happily, "Jack, I can't see!"

The clown was still naked, but was at least hiding behind the circus curtain that was the entrance. However, nobody appreciated getting an up close view of him anyway. Thankfully, his eyes were hungrily trained on the hot dog stand nearby and everyone took it as their chance to quickly walk away.

"You jinxed us," Zander said again once they were out of hearing range.

"I know, I heard you the first time," Jack snapped, then looked at Jamie, who was still staring at the clown. He nudged the younger boy. "Stop looking."

"It's kind of hard not to! I want to look away but I can't help myself!"

"Jamie, please don't be a pervert once you reach your development phase," Jack sighed and moved Jamie away to an angle where he couldn't get a good look at nudity. "You have all the stuff that Mr. Clown has, so I don't see why you would be strangely attracted to the sight like that."

"Gay," Zander commented off to the side. He was shot glares by more than one person.

"Look, if you don't want me to look at it so much, why can't we just go already?!" Jamie whined like a spoiled brat.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine. Whiny."

* * *

"Hey."

Zander and Spencer looked at Jack as they all strolled down the street where their houses were. Jamie was now giving Sophie a piggyback ride.

"You think Ariel might demand answers from me tomorrow?" Jack asked.

"Nah," Zander dismissed. "Knowing her, she'll be able to figure it out that you basically just cut ties, if they weren't cut already. Plus, you mentioned you were at the carnival, so it won't take a genius for her to catch on where her passes went. Obviously, she'll hate you like she hates me now though."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I figured out that much. I was just wondering if I should prepare for a confrontation at school tomorrow."

"And I'm telling you that you don't," Zander said flatly.

"You know, I _still_ don't know who this Ariel person is. Unless if you're talking about The Little Mermaid," Jamie intervened.

"The Ariel we're talking about is a lot less nice than the mermaid Ariel," Zander supplied.

"Yeah, this Ariel's a brat. That's actually an understatement, but I'm not gonna use the alternative word since Sophie's with us," Jack continued. "I told you, I'll tell you once we're inside. Don't worry about it, you'll get your dose of explanation."

Jamie frowned, but dropped it anyway.

Zander and Spencer's home was further down the street than Jamie and Jack's, so they reached the latter first.

Spencer smiled. "So I'll see you tomorrow?"

Jack returned the same smile and nodded. Spencer went off down the street, calling over his shoulder, "Come on, Zander!"

"In a minute!" Zander yelled back, then turned to Jack. "So things are okay between you and me now?"

Jack shrugged. "I guess."

Awkward silence ensued, but it only lasted for a second before Jamie broke it with, "Hey, I think I'm starting to catch on to this Ariel business. Did she have something to do with you stuffing yourself with food?"

Jack stiffened, while Zander did a double take. "You... You stuffed yourself?"

"No, he's just exaggerating. I was just..." Jack trailed off, unable to find an excuse. "No, he's not exaggerating. I was beginning to stuff myself."

Zander groaned, covered his face in his hands, and slapped Jack on the side of the head not-so-gently, unknowingly causing Baby Tooth to lose her balance on Jack's shoulder. "Why the _hell_ would you think that doing that was the answer to all your problems?!"

"Ow!" Jack winced at the slap. "Look, I wasn't thinking things through at that time!"

"But _stuffing _yourself? Really?! I thought girls are mostly the ones who develop eating problems because of peer pressure!" Zander sighed and took a deep breath. "Great. Now I can't kill you because I'm too happy that you split from Ariel. Consider yourself lucky," he grumbled, much to Jack's relief.

"So Ariel was a girlfriend you never told me you had?" Jamie cast a betrayed look at Jack.

"Not necessarily a girlfriend, unless if you mean a friend who's a girl," Jack answered, then turned back to Zander. "Trust me, never happening again. I think I should just stick to being a bachelor for now..."

Zander nodded in approval. "Yeah, good idea. I remember myself making that promise two years ago. So I'll see you tomorrow?" he asked, reiterating Spencer's words.

"Yeah, sure. Bye."

"Bye." Zander left, going after his brother who was almost already at their own house.

Jack turned to Jamie. "Maybe you should get your explanation now."

Jamie promptly nodded. "Dang straight!"

From up above, having concealed itself from view behind the house next door, a black Nightmare horse darted off into the direction of the woods.

**AAAAANNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDDD I'm cutting it off there.**

**Ya know, I keep on forgetting that Baby Tooth is always on Jack's shoulder.**

**I guess I can understand why she wasn't in some parts of the movie when she really should've been...**

**This chapter was more of a boring filler than anything else. The only important things were Jack patching things up with Zander and the line about the Nightmare (No awards to whoever can figure out what that means. It's really kinda obvious). But guess what? I'm updating faster now, so SUCK DAT, HATAHS**

**You know what else sucks? California's school budgets. Because of them, I'm at home today. Not that I'm complaining or anything. And it's spring break all next week, and on the following Monday (April 8) there's another budget-reduction day off for me. On the down side, I'm going back to school on Tuesday, April 9. Which is my birthday. why oh why**

**Reply time! (By the way, one of my reviewers broke her review requirement vow. I'm not going to point out any names, but you know who you are)**

**StarStreakedSky: Wooooooow, so you hate happiness and joy?**

**Nika Nicolette: Chocolate? I love chocolate :3 I get hyper all the time (either that, or I'm just weird in general) so you don't have to worry about being hyper around me. And I don't know why Mr. Kaka's the principal. He just is.**

**Dude: He dumped her via phone call... That's good enough for you, right? I'm sorry, but I absolutely stink at writing confrontations with a girl.**

**PuppetMaster55: The carnival really was like a vacation break for him. The only bad thing was the nude clown. I'm sure Jamie's afraid of clowns now, haha. I'm glad you don't find my plot bunny weird, 'cause I think everyone else does.**

**likhitata: No. No no no. I meant Jamie is Jack's kid. Jack's a daddy. Though I'm sure you read that author's note at the top about me elaborating on it :P Cici/Spencer will come, Mr. Immo Blobhead will come, everything will come at some point.**

** .Rocks: ...Um... It ended because it had to end at some point? I'm not sure exactly what you mean when you ask that. If you're asking why the story ended, I'm not even going to answer that.**

**RandomKrazyPerson: Sophie didn't come to the carnival? I wonder what that thing was that sat in the stroller the entire time then... ;P**

**pearlsofwisdom: Well yeah, that makes more sense than being Jack's kid, but the idea is just right there, and asdfghjk I don't know what I should do**

**Lovepuppy316: What?! What's wrong with pole-dancing!Jack?! It was something I wanted to see for a while, but I only remembered to ask for it last chapter. I looked it up on Google, and the only thing that came up was a chibi Jack pole dancing on Tumblr. If anything, it was more amusing than anything else.**

**Maddie Seth: Jack is a bad luck magnet, isn't he? Poor guy.**

**CGryffindorGrimm: Alright, I updated. Now will you draw pole-dancing!Jack for me?**

**Kaylee: You'll love the sequel. Trust me, you will. Of course it's like a normal high school. It's just that one of the students at the high school happens to be a spirit who's over 300 years old. :P**

**drawolftiger: I'll never forget that Jack needs to go back to being Jack Frost. It'd be so wrong if I forgot what was responsible for making him human in the first place.**

**Review lovelies!**


	19. In Which Jack Witnesses Anton's Driving

In math class the next day, Jack kept on sneaking side glances toward Cody through his notes. He tried to be as subtle as possible, but judging from everything he knew about Cody so far, the boy would notice, no matter how cunning he tried to be. Those thoughts were confirmed when the lesson was over, with a few minutes of class to spare. Without wasting a second, Cody whirled around to face Jack, his expression calm, though his right hand was grasping the edge of the desk so tightly, his knuckles were white.

"Can I help you?" he asked through gritted teeth.

Jack suddenly got a full understanding of what everyone was saying about Cody being the scariest guy in the school. The dude certainly had a gift of intimidation. Jack did his best to hide his nervousness (and he thought he actually did pretty well, for the record), and said back casually, "What? I just happened to be glancing in your direction, that's all."

"You've been 'glancing in my direction' for over the past half hour."

"Oh, have I?" Jack played innocent.

"You know you were."

"I can't help it," Jack shrugged, hoping he didn't just sound like a pervert (which he wasn't). "You're a rather intriguing character."

Oh boy. If that first sentence didn't prompt Mr. Antisocial to think wrong, that second one surely did. Now Cody was looking at him funny.

"I'm just curious about Carrie, alright?" Jack blurted out without thinking. Oops. Maybe he would've been better off if Cody thought he was a creepy guy who was into guys than bring up the topic of Miss Little Mystery Girl.

Cody's eyes widened, then narrowed after a second. "How do you know about Carrie?"

_Shit_, Jack swore in his mind. Thankfully for him, he didn't have to answer.

"_Never_ say her name again," Cody spoke ominously, eyes still narrowed dangerously at Jack. "She's not someone you can just bring up and expect to get away with it. Don't ever fucking ask me that again."

He probably would've went on if the bell didn't ring at that moment. Cody got up and left the classroom sending one final glare in Jack's direction. Jack just stayed seated and put his face in his hands, wondering just how close did he cut to actually experiencing the wrath of the school outcast.

"Jackson?"

Jack raised his head to look at his teacher. "Yeah?"

"Aren't you going to go to the cafeteria for lunch?"

"Uh, yeah I am. I was just thinking about something." He stood up and went to the door. "Bye."

Out in the hallway, Jack tried to look on the bright side. He did learn one thing through that whole ordeal: A direct confrontation just doesn't work with Cody. Yeah. That would stop him from making that mistake again, at the very least. He probably shouldn't risk jinxing himself, but he felt as if the only other thing he wouldn't be looking forward to that day was going over to Anton's—especially that car drive. For just that one time, he was hoping that Zander was really pulling his leg when he was describing Anton's driving habits.

Jack suddenly shuddered at the thought. This earned him Baby Tooth's concern, who squeaked worriedly. Jack snapped out of it and turned his head to her. "Oh right, sorry. I was just thinking about what I'm gonna go through after school today."

Baby Tooth understood immediately at those words.

"Baby Tooth, do you have any advice on cracking that stubborn wall of Cody's?"

Baby Tooth shook her head for a second, but after realizing something, she simply shot Jack an unamused look, her eyes silently accusing him of being a hypocrite. _Stubborn? You're calling him stubborn when you should really be looking in a mirror?_

Jack, getting the idea, shot the same look right back at her. "Oh, shut it."

_I'm not even saying anything,_ Baby Tooth thought bewilderedly as Jack finally reached his locker.

* * *

Luckily, Jack didn't jinx himself; his classes were all at least mildly decent. Now he was standing out in the student parking lot along with Zander and Spencer. The former was there to say his "final goodbyes to a great friend, even though he had only known him for a few weeks and had been periodically mad at him for being lovesick with the wrong girl." The latter was there just to make sure the former didn't scare their friend too badly.

Jack was currently in the middle of freaking out. "WHATDOIDOI'MSCREWED."

It took a second for anyone to pick up on what he just said. Spencer gave Zander a disapproving look, as if to say, _I told you you went too far on warning him._

"How was I supposed to know that he would get so panicky?!" Zander retorted back out loud.

Spencer sighed. Time for him to come in and change the subject for the umpteenth time. Why did he always have to be the one to serve the distraction? He tapped Jack on the shoulder and pointed at something that hung off the second floor of the school building. Jack looked up and saw that the object his friend was pointing to was a flag hanging off the side of the building. He blinked, not getting whatever was interesting about it. "That's a flag," he said brilliantly.

Spencer rolled his eyes. "I know."

"Why are you showing me that? I kinda noticed that a couple weeks ago."

"Uh..." Okay, so maybe Spencer didn't think it through too well this time around. He looked to his twin for help.

"The pole that it's hanging off of is unbelievably sharp," Zander offered.

Jack squinted. "Oh yeah, it is. So what?"

"You know our school is one of those that can go up to the roof?"

Jack raised his eyebrows. "No, I did not know that."

"Not a lot of students do, especially the freshmen, but me and Spencer do," Zander explained. "You can go up through the hidden door on the side of the building."

"Uh huh," Jack said flatly. "And what does this have to do with our unusually sharp flagpole?"

Spencer scoffed. "Zander here is convinced that one day a student's gonna go up there and trip off the edge where the flagpole is, causing them to accidentally impale themselves by scraping their body against the sharp end."

"Hey, it's possible!" Zander insisted.

"Never said it wasn't. I'm just thinking that the chances of that happening are kinda small. Like you said, most students here don't know about the stairway that leads to the roof, and I'm sure the students who do know about it aren't stupid enough to stand on the edge of the roof on their tiptoes, and even if they do fall, what are the odds of them falling off at the very spot the flagpole is hanging from?"

"I'm just thinking hypothetically here. And even if they fall off a spot where the flagpole isn't hanging, they're still gonna die."

"You're the one who's always thinking of the flagpole, not even the considering the possibility of it not being involved in someone's death."

The surprisingly interesting debate was broken when someone honked a horn behind them. All three boys now had their backs turned toward the parking lot, and they all jumped at the noise. Jack, having a dreaded feeling on who it was, took a deep breath and slowly turned around. Sure enough, Anton had the car window rolled down, and he called out to Jack, "Hey loser, get in the car before I drive off without you!"

Jack silently mouthed a brief string of profanities to himself. He turned to the twins. "Right. I'll see you guys."

"Bye," Spencer smiled and waved.

"I'll see you at your funeral," was Zander's truly unnecessary farewell, prompting Spencer to kick him in the shin.

Jack's left eye twitched slightly, but he dismissed it. He took a few breaths to calm himself and approached Anton's car. He went in the passenger seat and closed the door.

"Took you long enough. Slowpoke," Anton grumbled.

"Just...drive," was all Jack could muster as he rubbed his sore temples.

Anton shrugged and clutched the wheel. "Whatever you say."

Jack realized that he chose the wrong words a millisecond too late. The next thing he knew, he was thrown backwards. "Wait, I haven't even put on my seat belt yet!"

"Too bad! You should've done that when I was still parked!"

Jack struggled to sit up and reached for his seat belt. This proved not to be an easy task, as Anton seemed to always be turning and slowing down at stop signs, sending him flopping in all directions. After a few minutes of risking banging his head on something, he finally got his seat belt done. He wasn't sure how he did it, but he really didn't care at the moment. What irked him the most was that Baby Tooth had lifted herself off his shoulder and was simply floating in midair, leaving herself completely unaffected by Anton's reckless driving. All she was doing was trying her best to hold in her laughter as she watched him suffer.

Once they reached a traffic light, Jack asked in short breaths, "How...do you not...get tickets?"

Anton frowned confusedly and looked at him. "What are tickets?"

Jack opened his mouth, most likely to shout some stuff at the ignorant driver. The thing that prevented him from doing so was the light turning green at that second.

In short, it was a long drive to Anton's house.

Jack couldn't express his utter relief when they turned up at Anton's driveway. Zander really wasn't exaggerating; this car drive had left him scarred for life. He doubted he could ever get in a car without getting carsick again. If not, then he would at least never look at cars the same way in the future.

"We're here," Anton announced. He got out and went over to the front door. Just as he was turning the doorknob, he looked back at Jack, who was still in the passenger seat, having a tight grip on the armrests as if they were his lifeline, his skin pale, his eyes wide open and his breathing shallow. To sum it all up, he looked about ready to have a major heart attack.

"Overland, are you just gonna sit there and not enter my house? I didn't drive you here just so you could have a stroke!" Anton called out to him.

Baby Tooth pecked Jack on the cheek roughly, jerking him out of his trauma. He refused the urge to yelp out (because Baby Tooth's nose really was painful) and turned to Anton. "Excuse me, what was that?"

"...Get out of the car," Anton deadpanned, opening his door and going in. He left the door ajar, leaving Jack to close it once he entered.

Jack sighed and opened the car door as Baby Tooth made herself comfortable on his shoulder once more. As his feet touched the ground, he almost immediately collapsed, the only thing saving him from doing so was his left hand holding on to the car door handle. "Ugh, jelly legs," he muttered. "I hate jelly legs..."

Ultimately deciding not to let Anton wait for him any longer, he didn't give his legs any time to regain feeling. Instead, he got down on his hands and knees and crawled his way to the front door, not being able to care less if he looked weird to Anton's neighbors (not that there were any out in the yard or anything like that).

It turned out Anton was waiting for him inside by the entrance, and once his eyes got a load of a crawling Jack, his face contorted to some kind of funny expression. Jack noticed this and was reminded of the similar look Cody gave him just earlier that day.

Jack felt the numbness leave his legs once he had fully made his way into Anton's home. He got up and shut the door, then looked around. It really was a nice house, he had to admit. "Can I use your bathroom?" he asked, abruptly having the urge to go pee.

"Down the hall, first door on your right," Anton gave the directions.

A woman's head suddenly appeared from the kitchen. "Anton, it's much more polite if you would actually escort your visitor to his point of interest," she commented.

Anton groaned. "Mom, our bathroom hardly counts as a point of interest. Besides, the way you worded that made it seem like I'm on a date with him."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "So you're..." Crap, he still didn't know Anton's last name. "Anton's mom?" He dearly hoped that didn't sound too juvenile nor casual. "I'm Jack. Jack Overland. His classmate." Frankly, he was quite impressed with himself at how fluent his introduction went. His mind briefly flashed back to his own introduction to Mrs. Bennett, which included profuse stuttering and almost saying _Jack Frost_ instead of _Jack Overland_. He really was getting better at this.

Anton's mother smiled. "Yes, my little Andy's talked a lot about you. He talks about you a whole lot. Like one time during dinner—"

"MOM!"

Jack suppressed a snort. _Andy?_

Anton seemed to have noticed the hidden amusement, because he moodily snapped, "I thought you needed to go use the toilet."

"You heard what your mom said. Best to escort the visitor," Jack smirked.

Anton visibly bit back a low growl as he roughly grabbed Jack's arm and pulled him toward the bathroom, which was like he said, down the hall and first door on the right. The door was closed shut, and Anton let go of Jack's hand. "I'm just gonna warn you right now. I own a couple of dogs, and they're really rowdy and hyper. They usually run around in there, which is why the door's always shut."

"Um... I have a white cat as a pet, which I guess pretty much establishes I'm more of a feline person..." Jack said uncomfortably. "Don't you have an upstairs bathroom that I can use?"

Anton must've sensed Jack's uneasiness and took the chance to torture him, because he shook his head mildly. "Nope. It's got plumbing issues."

Jack was sure that was not the case. But before he could speak his mind about it, Anton opened the door and pushed Jack inside. "Good luck," he said coolly before closing the door again.

"Good luck—" Jack sputtered, then turned around. Two identical terriers were glaring at him with their sharp, beady eyes. Jack had an intense staring match with them until the one on the left broke the silence by beginning to bark viciously. The other one followed suit, and two seconds later, they were both trying to jump him.

Jack groaned. He sent silent prayers to the Man in the Moon that he would survive this, breathed in slowly, and tried his best to keep Anton's wretched dogs down.

* * *

For his part, Anton had the hold back the temptation to begin laughing when he saw Jack, looking like a zombie, exit the bathroom. The poor boy was very, very distraught from the canine attack, and if you add that to the scarring car drive, then... Jack was forever changed. He really was.

"Your dog jumped up onto the counter and bit me on the ear," Jack said numbly.

"Was it the boy or the girl?" Anton asked.

"Does it matter?!"

"Kinda, yeah."

"I don't know, the girl?"

Anton's eyes flashed. "If you don't know, don't go randomly guessing that it was the girl. That's not fair to her."

Jack rid himself of the urge to groan out loud. Yup, this was going to be a long afternoon.

* * *

"I think I should go now," Jack said stiffly, trying his very best to hold in the rage that had gradually built up over the past one and a half hours.

"Oh, okay, cool. You want me to drive you home?" Anton asked, not taking notice of Jack about to blow up. Either that, or he just pretended not to.

"NO! I, um... I don't want to trouble you anymore or anything. I'll just walk. I...live nearby." That was obviously a lie, but he'd rather journey all the way to the other side of town on foot than step foot in a car with Anton as the driver again.

Anton seemed to buy it. "Alright. So you wanna meet up on Friday again after the class meeting?"

"Uh... Sure, I guess..." Now Jack had something else to not look forward to on Friday. "But you don't have to pick me up again. I have another ride." Hopefully, Jamie's mother wouldn't mind driving Jack to Anton's.

Anton looked suspicious, but thankfully dropped the subject. "Okay then."

Jack exited Anton's bedroom and went down the stairs. He opened the front door, and standing on the other side was Anton's mom and a girl who seemed to be around Jamie's age. The girl's hand was slightly outstretched, most likely because she was about to open the door before Jack beat her to it.

"Oh, Jack. You're leaving?" Anton's mother asked.

"Yeah. Anton already said goodbye. Um..." Jack's eyes fixed on the younger girl, who looked back at him curiously in return. "Who's this?"

"I'm Kayla!" the girl introduced herself. "I'm Andy's little sister."

_Anton has a little sister? _Well that certainly was an interesting development. "I'm Jack, Anton's..." Jack struggled to find the right word. "Acquaintance."

Kayla nodded. "I know, Andy talks about you a lot."

Jack really didn't want to know what Anton said about him, even though he presumed it couldn't have been that bad, since his family didn't look too wary of him. "Right. I really have to go now. It was nice meeting you. Bye."

Jack exited and looked at the time on his phone: 5:38 PM. He mentally sighed, then dialed a number. He waited for the person on the receiving end to pick up, and once she did, Jack spoke, "Hey, Mrs. Bennett? I'm gonna be a little late for dinner."

* * *

"So it's true..." An astonished Pitch Black levitated on a little nightmare cloud as he watched Jack walk down the sidewalk below him. _What an interesting turn of events._

Just the day before, one of Pitch's nightmare horses had gone to give a little sick kid at the hospital a terrible dream that would not soon be forgotten, only to come scurrying back around fifteen minutes later. Unsurprisingly, Pitch wasn't too pleased at first, but after he got what his minion was trying to tell him about a humanized Guardian, or more specifically Jack Frost, he had to see for himself. He had a busy schedule going around giving kids bad dreams, and once he found himself spare time to go see if what his crony was saying was true, he didn't hesitate to go find the winter spirit. So there he was now, staring after a mortal Jack, who failed to look up and notice him.

Once the shock faded, a sinister smile made its way onto Pitch's face. This provided an excellent advantage for him, considering that Jack's intervention was pretty much the entire reason why that last (and very annoying) child Jamie refused to stop believing in the Guardians. If it wasn't for Jack, he actually would've won the battle. Now that Jack was pretty much out of the way, it wouldn't really be that hard to plan revenge against the other four.

The grin fell off his face, replaced with a thoughtful scowl. The problem was Jack's stubbornness. He was no doubt trying to get his powers back, and although Pitch wouldn't admit it out loud, the kid had enough potential to succeed in that.

He took a handful of nightmare sand from his floating cloud and played around with it, eventually creating the shape of a teenage boy. The smile returned. Jack's being human left him more vulnerable, so it wouldn't be too difficult to ensure he wasn't going to interfere this time around. With a tiny flick of his finger, the silhouette of the teenager was destroyed, and the dusty remnants scattered slowly back into the cloud.

Pitch was going to be extra careful that Jack did not hold him back. That was guaranteed.

* * *

"And you decided not to call my mom to go pick you up... Why?" Jamie inquired after dinner. He and Jack were both sitting cross legged on Jamie's bed.

"'Cause I told her Anton would be driving me home. Besides, she doesn't know his address. I'm gonna have to tell her it if I want her to drive me on Friday though," Jack explained, then grabbed one of Jamie's pillows and buried his face in it. "I suffered back there..." was his muffled speech.

Jamie half expected Jack to jump up and suddenly cheer himself up like he did last time with those carnival tickets, but he did no such thing. The younger boy sighed and patted Jack on the back comfortingly. "It'll eventually get better..."

Jack peeked an eye out at him. "You sure?"

"Of course I am..."

_Not._

**I don't underline stuff a lot, but when I do, it means it's important. Important: Remember the flagpole conversation Jack and the twins were having. Believe it or not, that flagpole will serve its purpose in the sequel. Important: There is a sequel.**

**Lookie here, I didn't put a disclaimer for once. I'm trying to rid myself of that habit.**

**So now I've introduced the subplot with Pitch. He has a purpose as well, and he also has a purpose in the sequel. ****Important: There is a sequel.**

**You guys are actually really lucky that I'm warning you guys about the flagpole. Yup, you're so lucky. You're even luckier since I almost pulled an April Fools joke.**

**Important: Part 3 of my story poll is up on my profile.**** To those who are wondering, there's a total of 4 parts.**

**Headcanon: Look at my reply to Polish's review.**

**Reply time!**

**Novanto: You have absolutely no idea how much I laughed at that the first time I read it.**

**feathered moon wings: Uh... Sure, why the hell not. I don't think I'm gonna be able to work in an angsty chapter in this story, but I actually have been working on a separate (angsty) RoTG one-shot that I...started two months ago...and didn't finish it... Crap. Maybe I should work on it. I'll give you a shout out when it's finally up.**

**likhitata: Long review asdfghjk. Oh come on, my story isn't that great... XD Although I do have to admit that I try my best to make my dialogue as vivid as possible. :P And I automatically love anyone who offers me boba tea. Thank you! -drinks-**

**snowflake13300: ...Duuuuuude, you have it way worse than me. And I'm assuming this Brown person is your school's Mr. Kaka?**

**Maddie Seth: You're the only one who actually wished me a happy early birthday, so THANK YOU SO MUCH. And I'm not just gonna leave Zander and Spencer hanging when Jack gets back to normal. That's just wrong.**

**Lovepuppy316: You are allowed to hug it. Maybe I should nickname Ariel that from now on... You find pole-dancing Jack creepy. Really. I should just send you the thing I found on Tumblr.**

**PuppetMaster55: Thank god I'm not the only one who forgets about Baby Tooth. I was pretty worried about my attention span for a second there.**

**Mystery Girl Who Writes: I would do that, but I don't really know how...**

**Nika Nicolette: Well, there are nude beaches, so I figured that a nude clown would...you know... He was stuffing himself because of the effect it had on his friendship with Ariel. He was mad about it, but he got even more upset when he had confronted her.**

**drawolftiger: It didn't upset me since I hadn't cleared it up at that point, but now that I have, I will say that I won't be the happiest person on earth. Luckily for all of us, nobody has asked anything after I talked about it.**

**LaylaFrost: Just a little side remark, you seem to like changing your username a lot :P Fun fact about me: My username used to be RimahikoLuver until last year. Anyway, as an answer to your question, I asked for fanart of a pole-dancing Jack two chapters ago. And I want the art NOW.**

**Polish: You see, I have this really weird headcanon that Jack looked a little adorkable (combination of dork and adorable) as a child until puberty hit and he became a poor, poor victim of pimples, zits, and a cracking voice, and then he got the smallpox so he had to stay in bed for a few months since medicine hardly existed back then (He was lucky that he didn't die), and then all of that left at the same time, and that is how he ended up looking the way he is now.**

**Review! (Underlining because it's important. Remember that)**


	20. In Which Jack Realizes Anton's Last Name

**Guys. I said it two chapters ago, and I'll say it again if I have to. Do NOT, I repeat, do **_**NOT**_** ask me when Jack will return to being a Guardian or when Immo Blobhead is going to appear again or when whatever-will-happen. It's really starting to get on my nerves now, but I won't point out any names. You know who you impatient people are. Time to release an ultimatum: If I get one more question concerning when the Guardians will get involved again, I'm gonna postpone Jack's return to immortality. I'm just gonna make Jack's stay as a human longer than anyone would like.**

**I swear, even though this story has been going on for almost 4 months now, the time duration within the story isn't that long. What I mean is that Jack was turned human shortly before Christmas, and this chapter takes place on January 25 (Uh huh, I checked my calendar!). Yeah, that's probably earlier than you guys think.**

**Flagpole. Yes. Very, very important. Not here, but in the sequel. Yes. Do not forget the flagpole. Or else. It will come back to skin you.**

He could feel it. Something was very, very wrong. He could feel it in his belly. The belly was never to be doubted.

North couldn't concentrate on making toys with all the nagging feelings he was getting from his stomach. He groaned frustratedly and slammed his chainsaw down on the table. Seriously, there was always something that would distract him from diligently preparing for next Christmas.

Maybe he should call Bunny. But no, wait, the Pooka wouldn't appreciate that. He wasn't particularly happy when the man had sent out a not-so-false alarm last time when Pitch had tried to seize power until he actually saw for himself that the situation was urgent. So why would he be willing to come over here just because North was having stomach pains? Besides, rabbits tended to be a bit antisocial around big, old, jolly men. When North had came up with the idea of walkie-talkies disguised as phones, Bunny had immediately shot down the idea and buried his own phone. Probably to fertilize his eggs or something like that.

Okay, North had to admit that was a stupid idea (He must've drank too much eggnog on Christmas Eve), which was why he had accepted Tooth's offer to send out Baby Tooth to watch over Jack. With the mini-fairy around, electronics weren't needed. Well, they were needed when it came to Jack. North didn't know much about teenagers these days, but he did know that every teenager was practically glued to whatever technology they owned. If Jack didn't even have his own cell phone to carry around, it wouldn't be long before one of his schoolmates discovered that there was something very different about him. North reminded himself to remind Jack to thank him later.

His stomach growled again and he winced. Yikes. If he didn't hit the loo soon, there was going to be a gigantic mess, and he was sure Phil wouldn't enjoy picking up after him. He grabbed a newspaper off the table and headed straight to the bathroom, whistling Christmas carols to himself.

* * *

"So you're paired up with Overland for your little performance art project."

Anton sighed and slammed his locker shut, knowing full on well who the speaker was. "Yeah. But it's not like I chose to work with him."

"Yeah, sure you didn't."

"Samson, I'm serious."

"I know, I wasn't being sarcastic or anything," Samson insisted. "So how do you feel working with him and all that?"

Anton eyed him weirdly. "Why do you ask?"

Samson looked off to the side as if making sure nobody was overhearing. "You know what happened last Friday?" he asked in a low voice.

"The only thing I remember from last Friday is you coming to me and yelling about how your locker had been vandalized," Anton deadpanned.

"That's the thing!" Samson raised his voice for a second, but lowered it again. "He was the one who did it."

"How do you know for sure?"

"Dude, he broke my nose. It'd be weird if it wasn't that same fist that crammed itself into my locker. Besides, those loser twins that always hang out with him, I overheard them talking about it," Samson explained.

"Okay, so he did it. But it was kinda justified, considering you did write something that wasn't true about him." Anton's words surprised even himself. When was he on Jack's side?

Samson apparently thought the same thing. "When did you start covering for him?"

"Never," Anton replied without any hesitation.

"Good. 'Cause I need you to do me a tiny favor. Just to get back at him for wrecking my property." A smirk made a way onto Samson's face as he handed Anton a camera, what one would typically use for paparazzi. "Try finding something for me again. That last one worked wonders. I'm gonna be expecting something that'll top that."

* * *

"Have fun," Mrs. Bennett called as Jack got out of the car.

"As impossible as that is, I'll try," Jack said flatly and closed the door. He briefly waved to Jamie's mother as he went up Anton's front steps.

He barely reached the front door before Anton swung it open. "You would've been here 45 minutes earlier if you just let me drive you," he grumbled.

_Was he seriously looking outside just to see when I would arrive...?_ "I'm not sitting in a car driven by you," he deadpanned back. "How'd you even get your license?"

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?!" Anton exclaimed, offended. "I just got it. Why would you question my driving instructor?"

"Just a gut feeling."

* * *

"I just remembered, we need a banner for the whole thing," Anton said. "Got any ideas on what we should do?"

"Oh, damn, you're right," Jack muttered. "Uh... I can't draw. I have no drawing ability. So it's best if you don't ask me about it."

"I'm not great at designing signs either!" Anton snapped. "You know what, I'm taking a break. There's been a lot of pressure on me lately. I'll be back up in, let's say, twenty minutes. If anything happens, I'll be downstairs watching Revenge."

"That Emily VanCamp show?"

"Yeah, that one. Anyway, feel free to do anything in here. Just don't touch anything."

"...How can I do anything if I'm allowed to touch anything?"

"Not my problem. That's for you to figure out."

"But—"

Anton had left the room. Jack sighed and lied down on Anton's bed, which he had previously been sitting on. These next minutes were going to be boring. That is, if Anton was keeping his promise that he would be back soon. Considering for the billionth time that he strongly disliked him for pretty much no reason at all, he might as well expect him to be back in two hours. Jack looked up at the ceiling, counting the seconds that went by. _Being human sucks._

He heard the door open, and he abruptly sat up again. It wasn't Anton, but Kayla. The girl had obviously just arrived home from school, as her backpack was still slung over her shoulder. She didn't seem surprised that Jack was in her brother's room.

"Hi Kayla," Jack greeted.

"Hey. I thought you were working on some sort of project with my brother," Kayla cut right to the point. "So how come I found him watching shows on ABC channel and you're just chilling on his bed?"

Jack shrugged. "I don't know, to be honest. He seemed kinda stressed about something, and demanded for a 'break.'" He put air quotes around _break_.

"He's always gloomy like that," Kayla assured him. "It's been a long while since I've seen him not pressurized over something."

"What's wrong with him?"

"Stuff at school."

Jack patiently waited for her to continue her explanation, but she did no such thing. "And?" he pushed on.

Kayla sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed, giving Jack a side glance. "I told you last time that he talks about you, didn't I?"

"Yeah, why?"

"He complains about everything that has to do with you. One day, he came home and the first thing out of his mouth was that there was a new transfer student in four of his classes."

Jack cringed and looked away. "Yeah. Four of them."

"And then he went on talking about how carefree you seemed," Kayla continued as if she hadn't heard him. "If I remember correctly, his exact words were, 'A guy like him can't just go and act like there are no worries in this world!'"

Jack bit back a snort at the Kayla's pathetic portrayal of Anton's voice.

"And after he was finally done with that, he started ranting about how you had good friends right on your first day. He saw you hanging out with the Anderson twins, and you all seemed to be getting along pretty well. He wouldn't stop talking about you until it was time for dinner."

"...Wow. Okay," Jack coughed awkwardly. "He really said that much about me?"

"Yup."

"So he hates me just because I seem perfect to him?"

Kayla raised her eyebrows in surprise. "What gave off the impression he hates you?"

"You've never really seen the two of us interact, but I can tell you right away that we don't get on too great." Jack paused. "Well, he doesn't get on too great with me. I just try to tolerate him as much as I possibly can."

Kayla was silent for a moment, then said, "I kind of have to disagree. Sure, he doesn't really treat you with a respectful attitude, but that doesn't mean he hates you. If anything, I think...he's jealous of you."

That definitely caught Jack off guard. "Jealous? Of me? What's there to be jealous of?"

"To him, everything. Like I said earlier, you've got friends you can rely on. As for him, he has Samson."

"...Is Samson a bad friend?"

"He isn't mean to him or anything, he's just a little dominating, and it's like Anton has no choice but to be his sidekick for everything. He doesn't like it, but it's like he's forced to."

"Then why's he friends with him in the first place?"

"They've known each other since elementary. According to Anton, Samson used to be nice. But then again, that was back when they were eight, and things are bound to change by the time you're eighteen. My brother's very loyal, and he feels as if it's wrong to leave a friend, no matter how cruddy they may be."

Jack certainly didn't come here today expecting to be discovering hidden layers to a stoic classmate he was sure who hated him. "...What school do you go to?" he asked, changing the subject to ease the seriousness.

Kayla seemed to understand why Jack didn't continue on the topic of her brother. "The one right across the street from yours. Why?"

"You always come home later than your brother. Why is that?" Jack asked, genuinely curious.

"Oh right. I'm in orchestra, you see." Kayla affectionately patted the violin case she had put beside her on the bed. Jack swore he really was going blind if he didn't notice that earlier. "I regularly have practice sessions after school."

The door suddenly opened again and Anton walked right back in. "Alright, I'm back. Oh hey, Kayla. What're you doing?"

"Just chatting with your visitor," Kayla answered, looking knowingly at Jack.

"Right. Both of us have to work on our project, so would you mind leaving? Don't you have to practice a violin excerpt or something?"

"Yeah."

"Then go do your own business."

Kayla left and Anton sat down on his bed again. He refused to look at Jack.

"I like your sister," Jack piped up. It was true.

"Huh? Oh yeah, she's alright." Jack may have been imagining it, but he sensed that Anton was acting a little weirdly. He seemed uncomfortably distracted about something.

"Um... I think I have an idea for our banner," Jack said.

Anton finally looked in his direction. "What is it?"

"...I just said that just to ease the tension in the room. I really don't have any idea," Jack admitted sheepishly, prompting Anton to glare at him.

Anton sighed and covered his face with his hands. "We're so unprepared for this... We don't even have a good idea for our play, and the two of us have to do this, and..."

"Things will get better," Jack tried to assure.

"I know things will get better," Anton said flatly. "It's just all the pressure I'm currently having. I don't do good when I'm stressful." He removed his hands from his face. "We have to pick things up soon, or we won't be ready in time."

_You were the one who went downstairs to watch TV,_ Jack thought caustically. Instead, he said, "I could come tomorrow and Sunday. I'm totally free on the weekend."

"Good idea. You should probably leave now anyway. My dad's gonna be home from work any minute, and he's not gonna approve of the two of us lazing around like this, so if you go, he won't question us about the progress we made."

That sparked Jack's interest. "Who's your dad?"

Instead of directly answering, Anton gave him an unimpressed look. "Are you seriously asking me that?"

"What?" Jack didn't know why Anton thought that was so wrong. "I never met him before."

"I thought you did."

"If you would just tell me who he is, I might know what you're talking about," Jack deadpanned, then added, "Look, this is kinda weird, but I don't even know your last name."

Anton didn't say anything for a minute, then questioned, "If we're gonna work together on this class project of ours, shouldn't you at least know that much?"

"I know, that's why I wasn't gonna ask you straight out what your full name was. It's embarrassing not knowing," Jack sighed. "Nobody bothered to tell me when I asked, and in the end I decided it wasn't that important. To me, at least." He vaguely recalled something Zander had told him just last week: _Jack, if I were you, I would at least try to find out more about my cohost._

Anton nodded slowly. "Yeah, you do your best to find out."

"...You're not gonna tell me?"

"Nope."

"...Why not?"

"Because if you want to know, I think you're gonna have to find out yourself. It's as simple as that." Anton shrugged. "I'm sure you'll catch on."

Jack groaned. _That's great, man._ Out loud, he said, "I think I should go. Like you said, your dad won't want to see us not making any progress. Whoever he is."

"Right. So see you tomorrow?"

"Sure, why not?"

Jack went downstairs and saw Kayla fingering her violin. She looked up at the sound of his footsteps coming down the stairs. "You're leaving?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah. So you were practicing your violin lessons down here the whole time?"

"Uh huh."

Jack paused, suddenly curious, then inquired, "Why did you join orchestra?"

To his surprise, Kayla's face turned red and she began to stutter, "I j-just like m-music a-and I w-wanted t-to learn h-how to p-play an instrument s-so I..."

Jack frowned. "Why do you seem so embarrassed?"

Anton had come down as well, and as he stood next to Jack, he informed, "She likes this guy at school and wants to impress him. The dude doesn't even notice her and she wants that to change."

Jack raised his eyebrows and looked at a furiously blushing Kayla. "So you're learning all this because of a crush? Who's this guy anyway?"

"...H-His name is... Jamie B-Bennett..." Kayla murmured.

Jacky's face suddenly contorted into a twisted expression, earning him an almost concerned look from Anton. _Almost_ concerned. "Uh, you okay?"

"I...need to...use your bathroom..." Jack breathed, expression unchanging. He shakily went to the bathroom and closed the door. Both Anton and Kayla heard someone laughing loudly from inside and looked confusedly at each other. After about two minutes of nonstop guffawing, Jack came out, sober once again. "I haven't laughed like that in forever," he said, smirking like there was no tomorrow.

"...Was there a joke that I missed?" Anton asked tentatively, as if he was afraid that Jack had officially lost his mind.

"No, it's just that I know Jamie." Jack's smirk grew as Kayla turned redder. "As a matter of fact, I'm living with his family right now. Don't ask why."

"Well don't go blabbing to him that I like him!" Kayla shouted frantically. "If you do that, I'm gonna be humiliated for life!"

Jack raised his hands in defense. "Relax, Kay, I'm not gonna tell him about you. This'll just be a secret between the two of us."

Anton cleared his throat, reminding everyone of his presence.

"The three of us," Jack corrected himself.

Kayla nodded, relieved. "Good."

"Yeah, I really should go now." Jack turned to Anton again. "Before your dad gets home. I'll see both of you tomorrow." He exited the house and grinned to himself as he went down the steps to the sidewalk, still rather amused at the events that just happened. _Looks like Jamie's got a secret admirer._

"Jack?"

Jack snapped out of his thoughts and turned in the direction of the voice, surprised that the owner was Mr. Suzuki, his vice principal. "Uh... Hey."

"What are you doing here?" Mr. Suzuki asked.

"I was just leaving Anton's house. We have that project, remember?" Jack explained, still recovering from bumping into his vice principal. He must've just been let off work.

Mr. Suzuki nodded. "Ah. Did you get a lot of stuff done?"

"Probably not too much, but we did make progress."

Mr. Suzuki nodded again. "Alright then. I'll see you around at school next week sometime." He went off the sidewalk and up the front steps of his own house.

Jack took out his phone to call Mrs. Bennett to come pick him up, but did a double take at the house Mr. Suzuki just entered. How strange, wasn't that Anton's...

It clicked. Jack put a hand to his forehead. "Oh my snowballs..."

**This chapter was choppier than a kitchen knife slicing beef. Probably not my best chapter, but it'll have to do.**

**Really guys? Seven votes on my new poll? Are you kidding me? GO VOTE. I'm disappointed.**

**Speaking of disappointments, nobody has given me a pole-dancing Jack yet... That just breaks my heart :(**

**I realize only now that Cody and Anton's developments are getting ready to kick in. It feels as if there's still a short while until that happens but it's coming a lot sooner than I thought it would. Sigh.**

**Review replies (including a headcanon in likhitata's review)!**

**storygirl99210: Because Pitch is stupid and bad. It's that simple.**

**feathered moon wings: Yeah, angsty one-shot isn't finished yet. I've been procrastinating way too much D: Oh yeah, an accident's gonna happen with the pole...**

**Mystery Girl Who Writes: Yeah, I figured that Samson should probably push him into the pool, but I just don't know who should save him. I'm way too evil to be able to write Jack not drowning.**

**pearlsofwisdom: The flagpole's gonna be in the sequel, and Pitch is the bad guy in the sequel. Try to figure it out from there.**

**PuppetMaster55: You're very close in figuring out who Carrie is. Here's a hint to help you: Cody's not the elder, but the younger.**

**Sassy Shota: And then Kayla showed up and twisted that 'nice twist' around even more ;D Anyway, thank you!**

**likhitata: Headcanon number -insert random number here-: For the first 50 years of Jack living his life as Jack Frost, he was extremely unstable because nobody was able to see him. He's obviously recovered from that derangement, but it's hidden away deep down in his soul, waiting to be awakened. And once it's awakened... All hell is loose (like with the Blizzard of '68). I think this headcanon is partly the reason why he seems so nonchalant about the weapons in Jamie's guest room, since he's slightly insane.**

**Lovepuppy316: ...WHOA, OKAY. I didn't even think of pole-dancing!Jack when I typed that flagpole conversation. That proves you're more sucked in than I am. Anyway, yes, something's gonna happen with the flagpole, and I will say that you guessed correctly on what would happen with one of those random guesses you spewed out at me. Hint: He's not pole-dancing.**

**YandereGoddess: You go update. Here's the OC list. Major characters: Zander, Spencer, Cici (You forgot about her D:), Cody, Anton. Minor characters: Samson Fisher, Ariel Jaleen, Erik Chou, Kayla Suzuki, Kevin Fisher, Christine Lee, Scott Kimberly, the Robinson triplets–Flo, Bo, and Jo. Future background OCs include: Ellen Black, Fernando Chavez. Future OCs in the sequel: Hazel Campbell, Hector Campbell, Conrad Montgomery, possibly more. And Flo's gonna become a major OC in the sequel ...That's a lot, I just realize.**

**Maddie Seth: Here's the thing–I thought Alec Baldwin sounded like he was saying Bitch instead of Pitch at the beginning of the movie since he had that strong Russian accent going. On the bright side, that just gives me the opportunity to make fun of his name.**

**Review please! **


	21. In Which Jack Implies His Pole Dancing

**Crucial information pertaining the sequel: I decided that the title will be Forgetful Guardian. Here's the summary: Sequel to Powerless Guardian. Plot shall confidential until Powerless Guardian is over in order to avoid huge spoilers. Yeah, not the most helpful summary.**

Sometime around 9:00 on Saturday morning, Jamie and Jack were sitting on a bench at the park. Jamie was curled up into a ball with his head in his knees, while Jack was awkwardly patting him on the back.

"Jamie, come on... It wasn't that bad..."

"How would you know? You weren't there to hear it..." Jamie mumbled.

"I was eavesdropping on the other side of your bedroom door."

Jamie's head shot up, his eyes clearly portraying fear and woe. "She said so much! Half of the stuff was unnecessary for me to know, no matter how old I am!"

Jack merely sighed. "I know, kiddo..." To be honest, there was a lot of information Mrs. Bennett had fed Jamie that he himself was unaware of.

Earlier that morning, Jamie's mother had suddenly decided that her son was ready for the "talk." Jack's mentioning puberty to Jamie in front of her on the day of the carnival most likely had something to do with it, and Jack was relieved that Jamie wasn't completely pinning the blame on him (although the younger boy had sent him some rather horrified looks as he was being escorted to his room). After it was all over, Jamie's outlook on the world had completely changed. In order to let him take a whiff of fresh air, Jack had taken him to the local park. However, Jamie wasn't about to let go of his lesson on life anytime soon.

"Jamie, come on. Just...just forget about it. Like you said, half the stuff you didn't need to know of," Jack tried to comfort the boy.

"That doesn't mean I can just forget about it! That stuff was disgusting!" Jamie whined, putting his head down again.

"You were going to hear it eventually."

"I could've heard it when I was thirteen if you didn't mention adulthood that other day! If I was thirteen, I could've taken it better!"

"Because then you would be less innocent. Which basically means you would know all of that stuff before she even tells you it," Jack deadpanned.

"I didn't need to hear all of that at once!"

"Jamie, don't act like this stuff will haunt you for life. The mental damage done to you will disappear over time."

"And how long would that be?"

Jack kept silent for a minute, and then threatened in a low voice, "Bennett, if you don't cheer up right now, I'm gonna have no choice but to execute my final plan."

Jamie, not taking him seriously at all, murmured, "What's your final plan?"

As fast as lightning, Jack reached forward and began tickling Jamie mercilessly. Jamie began laughing loudly, getting out of his fetal position and flailing around, trying to brush Jack off, which proved not to be an easy task since the latter was bigger than him.

"Really ticklish, aren't you?!" Jack said deviously, not stopping for a second.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA I... HAHA shouldn't have told you that... HAHAHAHA I WAS TICKLISH!" Jamie struggled to reply, on the verge of tears from laughing too hard. "Alright, alright, I'll cheer up! Haha... So STOP! You win!"

Jack immediately let go of him, smirking triumphantly, leaving Jamie gasping for breath. "As a Guardian, I always win."

Jamie glared at him, but was unable to keep it from faltering. "Why would you blackmail me with tickling?"

"You were being a stubborn fool." Jack shrugged casually. "Seriously though, you're making way too big a deal out of this. You were gonna hear her lecture anyway. Who knows, maybe my puberty mention really had nothing to do with it."

"I know, but..." Jamie sighed. "I'm gonna look at girls with a whole different light from now on. It'll take weeks for me to stop feeling awkward when I'm talking to Pippa or Cupcake."

"How do you think I feel?" Jack rolled his eyes. "I get chased by girls all the time. Everyday I find at least one love letter in my locker." He gave Jamie a knowing glance. "You might end up like that one day. You never know."

Jamie scoffed. "Yeah right, I don't think I'd ever have as many admirers as you. I have none so far, and I would like to keep it that way."

Jack snorted ungracefully, trying to stop himself from full on laughing. "Right. You have none."

Jamie looked at him weirdly. "Do you know something I don't?"

"No, that's not it." Obviously a lie, but he wasn't about to break his promise to Kayla. "I just find that unbelievable, since I personally think you possess the potential to catch the eye of plenty of women."

Jamie raised both eyebrows. "Was that sarcasm?"

"I don't know, you decide whether or not it is. Do you like anyone?" Jack asked abruptly.

Jamie looked totally taken aback. "Why do you ask?"

"Simple curiosity. Just answer the question."

"N-No..." That stammer and the slight blush creeping up onto his face completely gave away his lie.

"Liar," Jack accused.

"I-I'm serious! I don't!" Jamie's blush grew darker.

"Liar."

"I-I'm not lying!"

"Uh huh." Jack was clearly not buying it. "Kid, you're stuttering and you need to look in a mirror, because your face has become a tomato. Just tell me! I promise I won't tell whoever it is. Do I even know her?"

"Yeah you do... It's Pi...a..." Jamie mumbled incoherently.

"Who?" Jack frowned.

"It's _Pippa_!" Jamie exclaimed loud and clear, then covered up his mouth once he realized just how loud he hollered. Luckily for him, no one nearby seemed to pay any particular attention.

Jack raised an eyebrow, not really that surprised by the revelation. "Right. You guys are cute together. I would say I ship you, but I don't wanna sound too much like a crazed fangirl."

"This is gonna sound really, really complicated, but Caleb and Claude like her too." Jamie put his hands behind his head. "A lot of guys like her. What makes you think I have a chance with her?"

"'Cause unlike most guys, you're actually good friends with her. Well, with the exception of the twins, of course." Jack paused. "What about Monty? Who does he like?"

"Don't tell him I told you, but it's Cupcake. Don't laugh either."

Jack didn't laugh, but that didn't mean he didn't seem amused. "Right. They seem compatible too. Leave it to the nerd to like the big girl."

"That's mean," Jamie protested.

"Hey, that wasn't meant as an insult," Jack defended. "Like I said, they're compatible. Anyway, good luck on your future love life. On the other hand, I'll stay single for as long as possible. I'm not taking my bachelor status for granted. Might as well enjoy it while it lasts."

"Are you saying that just because you're still sore over the Ariel incident?" Jamie asked suspiciously.

"Possibly. You can't blame me."

"I technically can, since you were the one being stupid," Jamie stated.

"...I can't argue with that," Jack gave in, wholeheartedly agreeing. "I don't know what was wrong with me... Not to sound arrogant or anything, but I'm usually pretty smart. That just proves how much infatuation can affect me."

"Jack?"

Jack looked up. "Oh, hey Cici."

Cici's eyes trailed over to Jamie. "Who's he? Your brother?"

"Oh, him. He's my child," Jack said nonchalantly.

"...What?" Cici stared.

"What!" Jamie shouted.

Jack grinned cheekily. "Ha, no he's not, I'm just pulling your leg." He turned to Jamie. "Seriously, if you out of all people actually fell for that, you're much more gullible than I thought you were."

Jamie flushed. "Shut up..."

Jack turned back to Cici. "He's actually my..." He eyed Jamie from the corner of his eye. "My cousin. My cousin, Jamie."

Fortunately, Jamie didn't say anything. He was probably still recovering from Jack's little father-son joke.

Cici visibly relaxed, being reassured that Jamie wasn't Jack's illegitimate offspring. "You really had me fooled there. I believe things real easily. So why are you two out here?"

"Jamie's mom gave him the grown up talk this morning and he was scarred for life," Jack told her bluntly. "I did him a favor and took him out here so he could escape his house. Why are you here? I thought you were in Italy?"

Jamie shot him a dirty look. _You didn't need to tell her that much information._

Cici giggled, rather entertained by the story, much to Jamie's dismay (The "talk" was no laughing matter). "I just got back from the airport," she answered Jack's question. "I will admit I got a little homesick during the past week, so I decided to take a stroll the minute we got home."

"I'd like to see where you live," Jack stated randomly. "Sorry if that sounds too creepy. I'm just curious."

"You're curious about everything," Jamie told him.

Jack shrugged. "Bunny always said my curiosity was going to be the death of me. Not that I care."

"Who's Bunny?" Cici asked.

Jack stiffened, having momentarily forgotten that Cici didn't know about his secret. "Just a friend," he said, dearly hoping he didn't sound too forced. "An old friend I had before I came here." Judging by the way he worded that, it was actually the truth.

Cici raised her eyebrows. "That's an unusual name."

"It's actually a nickname, since he likes carrots and is scared of greyhounds." Still being surprisingly truthful. "His real name is Aster. He's Australian."

"It's too bad he can't come visit us, since we have Abby, our greyhound," Jamie piped up, catching onto Jack's coverup. "You guys still talk on the phone, right?"

"Yeah, when neither of us are busy." Okay, that was a little stretching it. As far as Jack knew, Bunny had no idea how to operate a mere telephone.

Cici nodded slowly. "Okay then... If you want to see my house, then go ahead and come with me. I was about to head home anyway."

"You'll let us do that?" Jack stood up from the bench.

"Us?" Jamie echoed. Since when did he agree to coming along?

Jack stared him down hard. "Yes, us." He wasn't about to walk in a friend of the opposite sex's house and meet her possibly overprotective dad without at least something indicating he didn't mean any harm. Jamie was a sign of innocence.

In his mind, Jamie gulped. Why was Jack being uncharacteristically controlling all of a sudden?

* * *

Cici's home was located right in the center of Burgess (not as far as it seemed), uncomfortably near the bustling streets of downtown. Jack took notice of this.

"Is your family okay with living practically right next to the noisy part of the city?"

Cici shrugged. "We weren't at first, but we got used to it after a while. Now suburban homes seem way too quiet for any of us."

Jack took notice of the way the house was furnished once all of them were inside. "Your house is like three times cleaner than Jamie's."

"Yeah — wait, what?" Jamie questioned. "It's true, but really?"

"Oh, stop it," Cici dismissed all possible compliments that could be spewed out towards her. "My mom's just a neat freak."

"She's good at it too." Jack looked around. "Where is she anyway?"

Cici didn't have a chance to reply before her mother appeared from the adjoining room, probably the kitchen. "Back already?"

Jack immediately noticed how young Mrs. Sanders seemed. She only seemed to be in her late 30's, at the most.

Cici nodded. "Yup. I brought friends." She motioned to Jack and Jamie.

Mrs. Sanders smiled warmly. "Nice to meet you. Are you Jack?"

_Okay, so she recognizes me. _Jack gave a small smile back. "Yes, ma'am. Has Cici told you about me?"

Mrs. Sanders nodded in confirmation. "She has. The news of a new student tends to be an interesting topic to discuss among high schoolers."

"I'm here too," Jamie reminded everyone.

"My cousin Jamie," Jack said simply. "We know you're here, nobody forgot about you."

Mrs. Sanders nodded again. "Nice to meet you as well. From what I've heard from my daughter, I presume that you're good friends of hers. Feel free to come over and stay as often and long as you like. I work though, so don't expect me to always be here."

"I understand. Thank you, by the way."

"Okay, enough dawdling." Cici began pushing both boys up the stairs. "Let's go upstairs."

Once they were up in her room, Jack immediately inquired, "What's your mom's job?"

Cici shrugged. "Only a waitress. It pays pretty good, at least for a restaurant, which is good."

"What about your dad?"

Cici fell silent and didn't answer, leaving Jack pondering whether or not he said the wrong thing. "You don't have to answer me if you don't want to," he covered up quickly to ease the tension that had suddenly built up inside the room.

Cici seemed relieved at that assurance. "Thanks. Anyway, change of subject, what'd I miss out on for the past week at school?"

"Not much. We haven't made a lot of progress with our performance. Me and Anton are doing our best, but it hasn't been easy," Jack filled in for her. "Still no great ideas for our play."

Cici frowned. "That really sucks. We need to think of something soon."

"I know," Jack sighed dramatically. "It's not anyone's fault that all of us suck at thinking up an original play synopsis."

"We had a pretty creative team last year though. We didn't have nearly as much trouble as last year."

"I thought you have the class with us?" Jack questioned.

"I do. I just decided to take it again as my elective this year, because I really like the class," Cici explained. "I didn't think we'd be struggling like this though."

"You can choose to take the class again?"

"Sure you can. You can only take it for two years max though."

"I am so lost," Jamie stated flatly, having seated himself on Cici's bed. "What are you two talking about?"

"Did your teacher tell you about some high schoolers going over for a fun little play they're going to be doing? Those high schoolers include both me and Jack. Jacky's one of the presenters for it too," Cici offered an explanation.

"What?!" Jamie shouted, enraged, then whirled on Jack. "Why didn't you tell me I was going to be seeing you at the middle school?!"

Simply ignoring the furious question, Jack's dull reaction was simply, "I assume your teacher didn't tell you about it then?"

Jamie sat back down on the bed and began sulking with an unhappy pout on his lip. "At least tell me that much..."

"You were going to find out anyway when the day actually comes," Jack pointed out. "Not a big deal."

Cici rolled her eyes. "You two."

"Anyway, I'm gonna have to go to Anton's house again later today. We've been attempting to figure out what our banner should be. Neither of us are really that artistic."

"You drew that bunny on my windowpane that winter day though," Jamie argued, careful to choose the right words so Cici wouldn't be suspicious of anything.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Just because I drew it doesn't mean it looked good. There are better drawers than me out there. Way better."

"You could ask someone from the school's art class," Cici advised. "That's always an option."

"But I don't know anyone in art class. That's the problem."

"Really? Zander and Spencer do. They have a friend—a sophomore—who's in art class and is really good at it. What was her name again? Christina? Christy? Something like that," Cici waved it off. "I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out. At least, if you know her too."

Jack didn't speak, trying to think. Did he know any sophomores? Not that he could remember... But he felt like he was forgetting someone. _Okay, Jack, think back to when you first became human. Who did you meet? Zander and Spencer, obviously. Who else? Samson and Scott, yuck. Did you meet a girl? Cici says it's a she. There was that one girl who came over for Christmas dinner. _Jack's eyes widened. "Christine!" he yelled out loud. "Christine Lee! I know her! She lives in the same neighborhood as me! Thanks so much, Cici! Come on, Jamie, let's go!" He grabbed the boy's arm and pulled him to his feet. "We have to go now! Bye Cici!" He hurriedly left the room (with Jamie in tow) and exited the house, leaving Cici blinking, wondering what just transpired.

* * *

Jack pretty much dragged Jamie all the way from Cici's house to the high school. It was at the high school where Jamie finally spoke up, panting, "Where...are we...going?"

Jack abruptly stopped, almost causing Jamie to bump into him. "Oh, right. I'm still dragging you. Jamie, why don't you go ahead and go home? I've got some...important business to take care of."

When the teen let go of him, Jamie rubbed his sore, possibly bruised arm. Jack hardly contained any muscle, but he sure did have an iron grip on things. "Alright then. Don't do anything rash," he said cautiously.

"Yes, Mother," Jack said back sardonically. "I promise I won't."

When Jamie left, Jack immediately whipped out his cell phone and dialed a number in. It rang for a few times and when the other person picked up, Jack cut right to the chase. "Hey, Anton? I know what we should do for our banner. Meet me at the front of the school."

* * *

"So this is it?" Anton asked as they stood in front of Christine's house.

"Yup," Jack nodded.

"...What are you waiting for? You go first."

"...Why?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

"'Cause you've met the chick before. I don't even know what she looks like. Don't tell me what she looks like, by the way."

The way Jack saw it, Anton was being ridiculously shy. However, he consented to his wishes and went up the steps first. He rang the doorbell and a few moments later, Christine answered. She stared for a second at Jack (who waved), and then closed the door again.

"Good job," Anton snarked, suddenly up next to Jack.

"Hey, why don't you try?" Jack snapped back. "You were the one who told me to ring the bell!"

Christine opened the door again, wearily running a hand through her hair. "Sorry about that. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't hallucinating you with a stranger standing at my front door. We stopped talking after that night at dinner."

"I have a name," Anton said irritably.

"It would help if I knew it," Christine said, equally moody.

Anton scoffed. "PMSing," he muttered.

"Hey, enough," Jack stepped in. "Christine, this is Anton. We have a bit of a favor to ask you."

"What do you want?" Christine stepped aside and let the other two in, closing the door behind them.

"You're in art, am I right?" Jack asked. "We're both from performance art class and we were hoping you could draw us a giant banner for our middle school event."

"Wait, wait," Anton interrupted. "Before she even says yes, I want to see her drawing style. I have a right to veto anything I don't like."

"I have an art notebook upstairs in my room, but if you're gonna go get it, go find it yourself. I'm not helping you."

Anton scowled, but headed upstairs anyway. When he was out of hearing range, Christine turned to Jack. "Is he sure I'm the one PMSing? Because I have a feeling that he's not too easy to get along with."

Jack shook his head and sighed. "He's not. That's what sucks, since we're partners and all that. He's the one being all deadpan and I'm just the poor guy who tries to tolerate everything I don't like about him. Plus, he's the vice principal's son, so it's best not to get on his bad side. He never really liked me, but I try to preserve whatever mercy he imposes on me."

As if on cue, Anton came out of the room holding a big, black spiral notebook and flipping through the pages as he made his way downstairs again. "You have a lot of scenery pics in here," he remarked casually.

"I like nature," Christine replied curtly.

"Not saying that's bad. It's just that—" Anton stopped whatever he was about to say when he turned the page again and saw what was drawn on there. "Uh..."

Jack looked on in confusion as Christine turned as white as a ghost. She hurried over to Anton and looked at the page he was staring out, turning even paler (which didn't seem possible at first). She snatched the notebook and closed it tightly, clutching it against her chest. "That drawing is a bit personal." The color returned to her cheeks and she blushed profusely.

"How was I supposed to know that?" Anton raised his hands defensively. "You were the one who let me look through it in the first place."

"Do you want me to draw you a banner or not?" Christine snapped, suddenly very touchy.

"Sheesh, sensitive," murmured Anton.

"Yes, we want you to draw for us," Jack intervened before Anton could convince Christine not to accept the offer. "Just ignore him." He thought for a moment, then inquired, "What was the drawing in the notebook? Just curious, so you don't have to answer me if you don't wanna."

The look on Christine's face gave him the correct feeling that he wasn't going to get an answer to that question.

"Okay, I think our business is done here." Anton seemed eager to leave. "We should go now. Come on, Overland." He opened the door and left without looking back to see if Jack was following him.

Christine looked at Jack. "Are you two on a last-name basis with each other?"

"Just him, not me. I've never heard him call me by my first name once," Jack said flatly. "Like I said, I'm trying to be as tolerable as possible."

Anton happened to be waiting for him outside. When Jack came out, he asked with no hesitation, "Have you ever pole-danced?"

Jack paused, then skeptically asked back, "Depends. Are you talking about recently or..."

Anton momentarily had this weird expression on his face as a reaction to Jack's implicative answer, but recovered and replied, "Ever since you met what's-her-face. Christine."

"No... Why?"

"No reason. Just wondering. It's got nothing to do with the drawing you don't know about. Just...forget I ever asked," Anton dismissed the topic. "You coming tomorrow?"

Jack was tempted to say, _I never said your weird question had anything to do with Christine's drawing,_ but he held himself back. "Yeah. Sure, I'll be there."

At least they were starting to make some progress.

**Remember all the way back to chapter 5 or something (the dinner chapter) and it was mentioned that our friend Chrissy drew a picture of Jack in her notebook? Yeah. What happened in this chapter was a call back to that.**

**Also, I broke my swift updating streak. It's mainly because I'm back at school now and I have state testing to take care of. Cue the boos now.**

**One more thing before I head on over to review replies. One reviewer called me out on the author's note at the beginning of the last chapter. Just in case anyone else found it unnecessary, I just want to clarify that I wasn't angry and yelling at anyone, though I admit I was getting a little testy back there. It's just that I really hate it when someone doesn't bother reading something when I'm trying to offer an explanation so I kind of lost my patience and got annoyed. I'm actually way nicer than I seem to be at times, though I'll admit that my temper varies at times. It kind of depends on what time of the month it is XD ...Too inappropriate? Sorry.**

**NEW POLL BY THE WAY**

**Replies:**

**YandereGoddess: I love human Jack, you have no idea asdfghjkl. There just so much fanfiction potential for him. **

**Randomness: Haha, it's okay. At least you caught up eventually ;D**

**feathered moon wings: Sanderson? You mean Samson? Lolwut Isn't Sanderson Sandy's full first name? XD I really hope you didn't mean Sandy or it'll be messed up at how he's trying to get dirt on Jack. ((By the way, I haven't worked on my angsty assignment at all D:)**

**Dude: Jamie isn't in orchestra; Kayla just wants to impress him by joining orchestra, since she thinks he would pay attention to her then. I don't know why she would think that would happen, but I just wanted to place somebody in orchestra, so.**

**Mystery Girl Who Writes: Obviously someone he's close to, but it's just that... It's kind of hard to explain. The best way I can say it is that I don't think I'd be good at writing something like that.**

**likhitata: It was the same exact face he had when Jamie hugged him. BOOM! You know what that noise was? That was my feels combusting...again. Oh god, I doubt I can feel anything after this... Anton would live in shame if Kaka was his dad XD**

**CGryffindorGrimm: I'm assuming that the black-and-white thing of a shirtless Jack holding onto a pole Hatsu Yukiya found on Tumblr and sent me isn't yours then? Okay. **

**Lovepuppy316: You're close on guessing the play. Very close. The only problem is that Samson isn't part of that class lol. **

**Guest: They are, they're just having trouble and I didn't show them doing so. Plus, they need to spend time on their regular jobs as well. It's not like they can just drop everything and track down Mr. Immo Blobhead.**

**Maddie Seth: In Response to Your Response to My Response to Your Review: Is that how the name Emma for Jack's sister started up? Teehee JK. I'm obnoxiously hilarious. I try my best to make the characters realistic, even though I realize I might possibly be failing at that otl. I'm gonna pop some tags only got twenty dollars in my pocket~ I'm hunting, looking for a come-up... THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME (I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself) Can I tell you this really sad story? I feel like telling it when you talked about your cousin and you going to see the movie. Okay, yesterday my friend and I were discussing good and bad movies that came out this/last year. For her, she either really likes a movie or really hates it. She started it by saying she hated Cars, then she said she loved Finding Nemo, and then she asked me if I watched Argo (The answer was a no if you're wondering) and then she told me, "You BETTER not have watched Rise of the Guardians," saying it was the stupidest movie ever and Jack Frost is so ugly ...You know, I take what I said back. This story isn't sad, it's more amusing than anything else. The way she said all that was pretty funny. Teehee. I respect her though, for being so open with her opinion.**

**Review please :3 **


	22. In Which Jack Gets a Bad Haircut

**I feel like doing this, so I'll issue you guys a deal: If anybody can figure out what I'm planning for the sequel, I'll give you a shout-out and I'll accept any fanfiction request from you (if you have one). Preferably a one-shot, since I already have a huge pile of multi-chapters to write in the future. However, I'll accept multi-chapters if I like the idea enough. Simple? Good.**

In the bathroom in front of the mirror, Jack frowned as he fingered a lock of brown hair hanging down on his forehead. He honestly didn't notice how long his bangs had gotten until Mrs. Bennett had pointed it out during breakfast (which reaffirmed the suspicion that he indeed was going blind). Perhaps one of the reasons he didn't notice was because he had gone 300 years without his hair growing one bit and wasn't used to having get haircuts every now and then. Even though his hair was now growing out, it was growing out in quite a strange way. It was mostly his bangs that were growing long and shaggy, while the back of his head hardly sprouted any more hairs. Jack had to admit to himself that he wasn't the smartest expert on how human hair worked, but he was sure Jamie's hair didn't grow out this way. Maybe it was one of those things that was common among people who lived back in the colonies but slowly changed as the years passed on to the modern times. Jack couldn't bother remembering if that was the case. He sighed and blew the messy strands out of his eyes (Seriously, how long did it take him to notice that his hair practically covered half of his face again?).

_I almost wish Mrs. Bennett didn't point this out so I wouldn't be finding my hair such a pain in the butt right now_, he thought moodily. _Now I think that I'm shaping up to have Cody's hairstyle. All emo, inconvenient, and...emo. Except my bangs cover both sides of my face._

He took the same lock of hair he was fingering moments ago and grabbed the pair of scissors that was lying on the bathroom counter. A little trim wouldn't hurt...

_Snip._

Jack held back a sigh of relief as he looked in the mirror again. He had just successfully cut off a little bit of his hair, and for once, there was no consequence to come with it. He had measured his cutting perfectly and the left side of his bangs were now looking exactly like how they were supposed to look. Now for the right side. He repeated the same process as before, carefully taking hold of his hair and slowly bringing the scissors up.

Sophie suddenly ran in the bathroom, screaming gleefully and clutching her stuffed rabbit. Jack yelped, obviously not expecting for someone to abruptly pop in. That momentary shock caused him to accidentally put his scissors up too high and–

_Snip._

Jack stared in horror at the long lock of bangs, now separated from his head, in his hand. He looked up at the mirror, not expecting things to look perfectly the way he had envisioned. Sure enough, the right side of his forehead was now much too bare for his liking. He stiffly glance over at Sophie, who tilted her head innocently, not understanding what just happened (and also wondering why Jack's hair looked funnier than usual). Jack exhaled deeply, closed his eyes, and pinched the bridge of his nose tightly. "Stay cool, Jack... Wait till she leaves the room... Then it's okay to scream the bad word that's going through your mind right now," he muttered to himself.

"Hey Sophie, don't just run into the bathroom like that. Jack's using it." Jamie, along with Baby Tooth, appeared in the doorway and picked Sophie up off the ground.

"Jamie! Bunny, bunny!" Sophie thrusted her rabbit into Jamie's face.

"Argh! Okay Sophie, I get it, I get it! Wait until Easter! Then we can see the Easter Bunny again, alright?" Jamie's eyes questioningly trailed over to Jack, who still had two fingers pinching the spot between his eyes. "Uh, Jack, why is one side of your bangs way shorter than the other side?"

Baby Tooth looked just about ready to burst out laughing at the sight before her.

Jack glared dangerously at the siblings and the tiny fairy out of the corner of his eye, not removing his hand from his nose. Jamie mentally (and quite nervously) noted that, at the moment, the teenager looked more like a shark stalking its prey instead of the usual fun-loving winter spirit he knew.

"Jamie... Just get your sister out of here before I end up teaching her indecent vocabulary..." Jack drawled out through gritted teeth.

Jamie didn't hesitate to obey, closing the door shut behind him. He looked wearily at Sophie, who was still in his arms. "What'd you do?"

Sophie didn't have a chance to reply before a loud, booming expletive erupted from behind the bathroom door. Baby Tooth whistled a long, low whistle. Mama Tooth would not be happy that Jack was using that sort of language. Something about how it stained beautiful teeth.

Sophie looked confused. "What did Jack just say in there?"

Jamie tugged at the collar of his polo shirt apprehensively. "Um... He said 'duck!' Yeah, that's what he said! There was no way he said anything else, no matter how much it sounded like it!" Fortunately for him, Sophie was too little to see through his extremely blatant lie. On the other hand, Baby Tooth looked at him unimpressively.

Jack opened the door again, his right eye twitching. "If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go find a hat to wear," he said forcefully, then marched his way up the stairs to his room.

Jamie looked at Sophie again. "Seriously, what did you do?"

* * *

"Have fun," Mrs. Bennett said her usual goodbye to Jack as he got out of the car. "Are you sure you don't want to pull that beanie up? It's nearly covering your eyes."

"Yeah. I'm not doing that until I get back home," Jack grumbled and slammed the car door shut. "Bye. I'll call you when I need you to pick me up."

He went up the front steps and rang Anton's doorbell, which was becoming some sort of daily ritual recently. Although he didn't turn to see so, he heard Mrs. Bennett start the car and drive off. Soon after, Kayla answered the door.

"Hey Kayla," Jack smiled. "Where's your brother?"

"Upstairs showering." Although Kayla was speaking to him, her eyes were fixated on the beanie pulled uncomfortably low over his head. "Um... Your hat..."

"I accidentally cut half my bangs off this morning, OKAY!" Jack shrilled, snatching off his beanie without thinking. Oh boy, now he was slowly transitioning into an unstable wreck. What the heck was wrong with him all of a sudden?

Kayla winced. _How can a guy with a voice that deep suddenly go all high-pitch like that... _Out loud, she spoke, "Yeah, you might want to put your beanie thing back on before Anton comes down and sees you—"

"See what?" Anton, hair still slightly damp, came down the stairs and stared at Jack and his hair problem. His immediate reaction was to not bother holding back a long snort.

"Hilarious, isn't it," Jack deadpanned sulkily.

"Truthfully, yes." With that blunt answer, he looked at the beanie in Jack's hand. "Next time you might want to put that on before you get my sister to open the door for you."

"He had it on, he just broke down when I questioned him about it," Kayla informed him, much to Jack's chagrin. She at least didn't have to let him know that much, did she?

Anton faced Jack with a raised eyebrow. "Really. You're much more easily worn down than I originally thought."

"Just, please... Shut up," Jack griped, not in the best of moods. "Can I just come in already? I'm sick of standing out here."

"Very snappish today, aren't you?" Anton took hold of the door from Kayla and opened it wider, letting Jack in. "Seriously though, how'd..._that_ happen?" He motioned towards Jack's lack of even bangs.

"Step one: Note the extremely long bangs you have in the bathroom mirror," Jack began counting the steps off of his fingers. "Step two: Get some scissors and try to cut them shorter. Step three–"

"Oh god, I can see where this is going," Anton muttered. Kayla nodded in agreement.

"–Have Jamie's toddler sister intrude on you screaming her head off," Jack continued, ignoring the commentary from the sides and the blush creeping onto Kayla's face at the mention of Jamie. "Step four: Start in shock and accidentally snip off all the bangs on one side of your forehead."

"Look, if your hair was really bothering you, you should've just gone to get a haircut," Anton pointed out, not willing to believe Jack's apparent stupid decisions.

"I'm not spending money on a haircut when it's only the hair dangling in front of my face that needs to be cut," Jack scoffed. "The back of my head was perfectly fine. I know it's weird, but that's just how my hair works."

"You're right about something for once, it's very, very weird," Anton admitted. "Enough talk about this. We need to work. Kayla, go practice the violin or something."

"I practiced this morning," Kayla frowned.

"Practice some more, or do something else, as long as you don't disrupt us," Anton waved off flippantly, beginning to head up the stairs again, with Jack in tow.

Once they were in the bedroom and Anton closed the door behind Jack, the latter stated with no tentativeness in his voice, "Anton, I'm sorry, but I like your sister way better."

To his mild surprise, Anton didn't seem to take that as nonchalantly as he expected him to. He shot the secret winter spirit a dirty look, and retorted flatly, "That's too bad, because she's not the one you need to be working with. I'm not happy about an extra person setting foot into my house, because that means one more person's burden I'm carrying on my shoulders. But it's not like I have a choice. Even if I refuse, my dad would probably drag me over to you and demand that we set aside our differences. You know what that means? That means we're basically stuck with each other for the next couple weeks, whether we like it or not, and there's nothing either of us can do about it."

Yikes. Jack blinked at the sudden hostile attitude Anton seemed to currently be possessing. What'd he say that set him off so much? The dude should've expected Jack to prefer his sister over him, so even if that was meant to be insulting (which it wasn't), he shouldn't have gotten so offended.

Anton sighed exasperatedly and sat himself on his bed. "So we got our banner covered. That's one less thing to grow white hairs over."

_Excuse me, but do you have a problem with white hair?_ was the rather irritable comment Jack was extremely tempted to make. As a winter-spirit-turned-human, having white hair wasn't meant to be a bad thing. However, he managed to keep his mouth shut.

"What else do we need to take care of?" Anton was asking.

Jack shrugged. "I dunno. Skits and...stuff."

"Dude, the performance is at the end of February, and January's almost over. It takes us like two weeks to rehearse everything, which only leaves us the next two weeks to have everything ready. The two of us are barely making any progress, we have no idea what everyone else is doing, and our play doesn't even have an existing plot yet," Anton vented. "It'll take a miracle for us to do all of that on time."

"I don't know about you, but I'd rather have some stuff done than have nothing at all," Jack shot back, beginning to finally lose patience with this guy. "So maybe you should stop being a grump and focus. You're no better at concentrating."

Anton glared venomously at him. "Well maybe you should be thinking up ideas right now instead of arguing back."

"Oh, and the same thing can't be said about you?" Jack rolled his eyes. "This is why I said your sister's more endurable than you. She's much kinder and more grounded and actually thinks before she speaks. How is she even related to you? I beat myself up all the time wondering that."

"You're actually bringing Kayla into this?" Anton narrowed his eyes at Jack. "First off, we're related because we share the same parents. Two, she understands me and I understand her. Did what she said to you on Friday just go in one ear and out the other–" He cut himself off at this point.

"What she said to me on Friday–" Jack thought back to two days ago.

_"I kind of have to disagree. Sure, he doesn't really treat you with a respectful attitude, but that doesn't mean he hates you. If anything, I think...he's jealous of you."_

It hit Jack like a blizzard he didn't cause. "...You were listening to us talk?"

Anton seemed to go from a sullen teenager to a little kid who was stubbornly trying to not admit to something that was obviously true. "I guess I was...a little bit... But it wasn't like I cared or anything! I just happened to be listening in, and I just happen to remember what she said."

"...You do care," Jack deadpanned. "Sorry to contradict you, but you do and you know it."

"You've been contradicting me ever since you came in this house today," Anton grumbled, which Jack chose to ignore.

"Was that why you were acting a little distractedly when you came back that day?" Jack began grilling for answers, not being able to help himself now that the pieces slowly fitted together. "You seemed like you were contemplating something, and—...Was Kayla right?"

"About what?"

"About you. About how you're 'jealous' of me." Jack put air quotes around the term Kayla had previously used.

"...So what if I say yes?" Anton grouched like a baby wouldn't give up his lollipop. "Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not."

Silence overtook the room until Jack broke it by snorting, followed by full-blown laughter, much to poor Anton's confusion. "What? What's so funny?!" he demanded.

Jack calmed down enough to say with a huge grin on his face, "It's just that I always thought you hated me for no good reason other than how you're Samson's best friend and all that. Out of all the people I thought would be jealous of me, I placed you at the bottom of that list. I know Kayla already told me about this, but I can't really say I believed her. I just thought she was saying that just to comfort me. It's just so unexpected, and I'm just trying to soak it all in all of a sudden, and well... It's funny." The smile fell off of his face as he sobered up to ask seriously, "What's there to be jealous of?" This was clearly a question he had asked Kayla previously, but he needed to hear Anton's side.

"...I first heard about you when word spread around about how you socked Samson right in the nose," Anton gave in, not seeing any point in covering up any longer. "The weird thing was, I wasn't mad that you did that at all, I kinda thought to myself about how you seemed to accept the black eye he gave you and retaliated right back. I don't like Samson," he suddenly declared. "I used to, but not anymore. But I don't know what to do about it, because he's the oldest friend I've ever had, and we've been through so much together in our childhood, that it just feels plain wrong for me to just ditch him. I guess I got a little envious of how you're able to stand up for yourself to him while I can't..."

"So you glare at and insult me like you genuinely hate me because you're always wondering why you can't be more like me," Jack finished for him, just to spare him further embarrassment.

"That's one way of putting it," Anton mumbled. At lightning speed, he pointed menacingly at Jack. "Do not tell anyone we had this conversation if you want to live."

"Sheesh, prideful," Jack muttered.

"Especially _not _Cody Gray."

"Yeah, okay, I won't—wait, what?" Jack raised an eyebrow. "What'd you just call Cody?"

"What?" Anton held his hands up. "I just called him by his first and last name. Cody Gray."

"...Wasn't his last name–"

"Oh, I see where you're going now," Anton realized. "His last name is Gray, but a lot of people think it's Gay because when he first came here in freshman year, there was a little typo in the form, or whatever it's supposed to be called. The R was accidentally omitted, but by the time they fixed it, the name had already stuck. Some people use the Gay thing purposely as some kind of nickname to degrade him, but other people really don't know that it's not his real last name. That's what I think, at least."

"...What the hell," Jack finally stated flatly. "That's plain bad luck right there. Worse than me."

"You got that right," Anton agreed. "It's not like he cares anyway. He doesn't care about anything, whether it's about him or anyone else."

"How come you and Cody don't like each other?" Jack asked.

Anton looked at him for a moment, then shrugged. "There's no backstory to that, if that's what you're thinking. We just met within the first few days he came here and we just got off on the wrong foot. We've been pretty rocky towards each other ever since."

"How come you got off on the wrong foot?"

"What is this, some interrogation? It's just that we have nothing in common with each other."

_I really don't think that's it, _Jack thought, but didn't say anything. "You know, if you wanna leave Samson, then leave Samson," he steered the conversation back to the original topic. "Trust me, if you stay with him, you'll regret it eventually. He may be the only childhood friend you have left, but friends can change. It'll hurt, but it's for the best. I get around enough to know that you're not the only person in this world who feels this way. I'm sorry I have to word it this way, but Samson's already not your friend anymore. You're just his servant."

Anton was listening intently, then looked down at his hands. "Maybe we should get to work now," he muttered.

Jack smiled understandingly. "Sure."

* * *

"Two hours of work and I think I should probably go now," Jack said at last, standing up. "It's getting late."

Anton nodded. "Alright." He stood up too. "I feel like we made a lot more progress today."

It was true. Jack had noticed that the two of them were getting along significantly better today now that they had that talk with each other. As they both went down the stairs, Jack asked, "Are you gonna consider what I said?"

"I'll think about it," Anton replied cryptically. He opened the door for Jack, and when the latter stepped out, Anton added, "Oh yeah, one more thing." When Jack turned, he motioned towards the beanie that was in his hand. "You might wanna put that on again."

Jack rolled his eyes and pulled the beanie over his head, though this time he put it on properly, resulting in his hair malfunction to still be visible. After thinking about it, he decided that if anyone laughed at his hair, then he wouldn't mind. It was pretty funny in hindsight. He turned around again and walked down the steps.

"Also–" Anton wasn't done yet.

When Jack turned around the second time (albeit a little annoyed), Anton let a tiny hint of a smile surface his lips. "Not bad, Jack. Not bad at all."

He didn't let Jack get a chance to say something back before he shut the door.

**Excuse me if this chapter ended up seeming boring to the lot of you.**

**Also, three votes on my poll so far. ...I'm not even going to say anything. You guys know I'm not satisfied with that low number. But I must point this out: It seems like I always have to say I have a new poll on my profile **_**twice**_** before most people listen to me. For those who actually listened the first time, I'm sorry you have to hear this.**

**So Anton's finally really starting to warm up to Jack (Gasp) and he's even starting to call him by his first name (Double gasp). Now all that's left is Cody. I'm just going to warn everyone ahead of time: Things will be getting pretty dark. The next chapter should be just fine, but it's the chapter after that that should worry you.**

**I apologize for the supreme lack of Baby Tooth. Let's just say that she's just chilling on Jack's shoulder the whole time during his stay at Anton's. By the way, just because I promised that I wouldn't shave Jack's head didn't mean nothing would happen to his hair. I'm sorry, but I'm not sorry.**

**On a completely unrelated note, I watched Saving Private Ryan in history class this past week. -it's beautiful-**

**Review replies:**

**artsynam5: I get my awesomeness from all the awesome reviewers who bother reading this shizzle :D**

**pearlsofwisdom: Hey, when you spend 300 years with practically nothing to do but spread winter, you would get pretty desperate for something to ease your boredom too ;P His staff appears to make a good pole, by the way.**

**dude: I had a feeling someone would want to pair Christine up with Anton. I'm not against that couple, but I don't think there will be any romance between those two seen in this story or in the sequel.**

**YandereGoddess: Honestly, I just made Jamie have a crush on Pippa because other than Cupcake, she's the only girl he hangs out with, and I picture Monty awkwardly liking Cupcake. You know, you're the only one who seems to have questioned Cici's mysterious dad, so THANK YOU. Also, I don't think Christine and Anton are going to be interacting with each other romantically, but you can ship it in your head, I don't mind. Anton's not getting a love interest in this story anyway XD I've never had the talk either, and my mom didn't bring it up at all. That explains why I was so embarrassingly innocent and I had to figure everything out on my own.**

**feathered moon wings: Yeah, if the blob catches him, he'll die. There's no doubt about it. And Christine isn't that bad... At least she's not Ariel. And I now have the mental image of Jack pole dancing on the school flagpole. Thanks a lot XD**

**PuppetMaster55: Considering he only had the wind and his staff on his side for 300 long years, I think pole dancing should've crossed his mind at least once. I'm pretty sure he needed a hobby anyway, so. And yeah, February's almost here. I'll explain Mrs. Bennett at one point.**

**Guest: Think about it. I don't know about you, but if I was Jack, I wouldn't really know how to turn back to normal either, so I don't think it's possible for him to try becoming immortal again if he doesn't know where to begin. I suppose my summary is slightly misleading though, but I'm not going to bother changing it because I am the laziest ass ever otl.**

**RandomKrazyPerson: If you're talking about CGryffindorGrimm's picture, no.**

**Moonstar Daughter of Hades: ...Ohhhhhhh dear. That's something I really am not going to enjoy explaining. It's a form of...dance where you take a pole and just...dance. Do you know what a lap dance is? It's like a lap dance except you use a pole instead of somebody's lap. It's kind of dirty, and...and... Look it up. That's the best answer I can offer you.**

**Lovepuppy316: You know my innocence was destroyed a couple years ago because I have the most dirty-minded friends ever? I swear, I was the only one who was completely innocent, and even now, I'm sure I'm the least dirty out of all of us. Count yourself lucky that I'm not anyone else. And dear god, I really didn't think someone would be so traumatized by my little anecdote about my RoTG-hating friend. I'm sorry D:**

**Dream Theme: No, it wasn't Higurashi. The fanfic's called Red Valentine under the Shugo Chara fandom, so feel free to search it up. On another note, I'm not planning on having Samson figure the truth out about Jack. It's too bad how he's not in the performance art class either, so I'm sorry D: But I really like your idea of Jack being all 'fuck this shit' when role auditions come :D**

**Maddie Seth: In Response to Your Response to My Response to Your Response to My Response to Your Review (I don't know how long both of us will be able to keep this up): I like long reviews, they're what motivate me to write more :D And yeah, I heard about Finding Dory. Even though Ellen Degeneres made the announcement on the day after April Fools Day, she wasn't kidding. It's real. And whoa, Macklemore did a song like that? I'm really impressed. It's not everyday you stumble upon an artist who actually dedicates an entire song to the LGBT community. The only other song I know that's about gay rights is Lady Gaga's Americano, which is an awesome song. I remember going on this movie website and I looked up RoTG, and you wouldn't believe what some of the comments said. Some people were rambling on and on about how the movie appears to suck and the animation is ugly (Why anyone would think that, I'm not sure), and it really REALLY pissed me off because they didn't even bother going to see the actual movie and they were already judging. Asses.**

**So, ah, review! And don't forget to participate in my poll this time around.**


	23. In Which Jack Throws His Shoe

**So far, Hatsu Yukiya, RandomKrazyPerson, likhitata, and Writeous have figured out what my plans for the sequel are. Okay, Writeous was the one who figured it out. I actually told the other three on my own. Also, Maddie Seth got like 50% of it.**

Five minutes. That was how long it took. It took five minutes for every student on campus to know that one of the school heartthrob's hair had been viciously damaged over the weekend. Of course, Jack wasn't surprised by the outcome it had on everyone else, especially when it came to the girls. However, that did not mean he had to like what he had to endure with the Robinson triplets.

"Jackson~! The three of us just wanted to let you know that we still love you, no matter what your hair looks like!" Jo Robinson addressed sweetly as she and her sisters found Jack at his locker.

"I kinda stopped caring about my hair problem already," Jack stated. "Thanks for the comfort, but I'm fine."

"How'd it even happen?" Flo Robinson asked rather curiously.

With a sigh, Jack explained, "My bangs were bugging me so I tried to cut them by myself. That clearly didn't work out well."

Bo Robinson gasped dramatically. "Oh my gosh, why would you ever try to do that?! Your hair was perfect the way it was! That's such a shame!"

Just a month ago, Jack would've appreciated the attention he was currently obtaining. However, now he was learning the hard way that there indeed was such a thing as too much attention. _Being popular sucks, _he thought quite sourly.

The triplets probably would've continued on gushing over Jack and his 'perfect' hair, but thankfully for him, he was saved by the intervention of none other than Cici, who was carrying a box of candies. "Hey Jack," the blonde grinned. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No, I got time for you," Jack assured, flashing a toothy smile of his own. He turned back to the three other girls, who were now glaring daggers at the newcomer. "Okay then," he spoke nervously. "Maybe we should go somewhere else if neither of us want to be torn to shreds by angry women."

Once the two were a safe distance away from Jack's clingy fangirls, Jack cut right to the point. "Alright, so what's up?"

Cici held up her box of chocolates. "I made truffles from this chocolate mix I brought back from Italy. I have another box in my backpack. Wanna try some?" She took off the lid.

Jack took a truffle and popped it into his mouth. After a few seconds of chewing, he nodded and commented, "They're really good. Did you seriously make these? I mean, not that I'm saying I thought you were a bad cook, it's just that they taste professional."

"Oh, stop with the compliments," Cici laughed. "If you want, I could give you my second box. I made more than enough for today."

"You sure about that?" Jack tried his best to not let his sweet tooth get the best of him.

"Of course I am. I wouldn't be offering if I wasn't." She took out the other container of chocolates, opened it, and picked up a truffle. If Cici wasn't going to have any second thoughts, then Jack wasn't going to complain. He opened his mouth, letting Cici feed him.

While chewing and savoring the chocolatey, rich goodness, Jack held up one finger. "Right. I'll eat the rest later. No more feeding or some girl will get the wrong idea and we'll both be in need of medical attention. You saw how it was with the Robinsons."

Cici nodded understandingly, closing the box and handing it to Jack. "Go ahead and eat all of them today if you want to."

* * *

As Jack stepped foot into math class, the first thing he looked at was the teacher. She was busy at her desk writing something that he did not care to know about. His eyes were continuously fixed on her as he made his way over to his seat. The reason he was watching her was because although she was reasonably lenient most of the time, she held a strict prohibition against food in her classroom. He wanted to sneak at least one more truffle before he had to suffer by the evil prospects of what were known as theorems and postulates. Carefully, he took one of Cici's homemade chocolates and put it into his mouth, still paying undivided attention to where his teacher's eyes were looking. Fortunately, she did not notice him. Unfortunately, Cody, who had already been in his chair, did.

"What was that?"

"What?" Jack played innocent, trying to subtly chew his chocolate so the teacher won't suspect him of eating when he shouldn't be.

"Don't play dumb. You just shoved chocolate into your mouth." Cody narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"They're just truffles my friend made for me," Jack said, holding up the box, its lid not completely shut. "Just don't tell Ms. Ramirez, alright? I get into enough trouble everyday—"

At lightning speed, Cody had taken a truffle and put it into his own mouth, not even acknowledging Jack's stunned look.

"...You could've just asked for one, you know," Jack muttered, closing the container the right way this time.

"These are good," Cody remarked, sounding more surprised than necessary and also ignoring Jack's side comment. "Who made them?"

"Cici Sanders did," Jack replied. "She's apparently really good at this cooking stuff."

"Tell her to make more. I like them. I want more."

Jack almost immediately noticed the change in Cody's tone of voice from a bored, uninterested teenager to an immature, stubborn toddler with an unhealthy sweet tooth. He raised an eyebrow at that. "You mean...you want more?"

"Didn't I just say that?" Cody opened the box again, then closed it after taking another chocolate.

"Well, yeah, but..."

The bell rang, cutting Jack off from whatever he was going to say. He quickly stowed away his food, which Ramirez still hadn't noticed he had out. The teacher stood up and began the lesson, but Jack was hardly paying any attention. He kept on sneaking glances at Cody throughout the entire hour, which the latter paid no heed to. Maybe these sweets were the key to getting through to Cody...

* * *

Anton felt more conflicted than he had in a very long time. When was the last time he felt this troubled? Around seven or eight years ago when Samson first started shaping up to be the person he was today. Which clearly was quite a while ago.

_"You know, if you wanna leave Samson, then leave Samson."_

Anton wanted to leave Samson. That was his number one desire.

_"Trust me, if you stay with him, you'll regret it eventually."_

Anton had a bad gut feeling that was telling him that Jack was right about that. He was sure one day Samson would convince him to do something way off the deep end and he would wind up having second thoughts about it.

He rounded the corner, and sure enough, Samson was at his locker. He was scowling about something, obviously in a pretty bad mood. Anton remembered back then, his friend was optimistic about everything.

_"He may be the only childhood friend you have left, but friends can change."_

Ain't that the glorious truth. Anton took a deep breath and approached the boy who used to be his best friend. He was going to try and take Jack's advice to him yesterday. "Hey, Samson—"

Samson slammed his locker shut and stared hard at Anton. "Did you get it yet?"

"What?" Anton was confused.

Samson groaned and slapped his forehead. "The news for the paper! The dirt on Overland, remember?"

"Oh yeah, I remember," Anton lied. _No, I completely forgot. Crap._

"Well? Do you have it?"

"...No," Anton admitted, then rushed to defend himself. "It's hard to find embarrassing stuff about Ja— Overland! And we already covered all the stuff about how he's thin as a twig!" _No offense, Jack._

"Well if that's how it is, then maybe I should just make up something about him then! Are you sure you can't find anything?" Samson asked.

"No! No, I promise you I'll find something," Anton promised without thinking. _What the hell are you saying, Anton?_ "There's gotta be something embarrassing about him that has yet to be uncovered. If I don't get anything by the deadline, feel free to make up something fictional. Just...yeah," he finished off lamely.

"Alright then." Samson seemed satisfied. "Get it to me by Thursday afternoon. I'll still have time to BS what I write even if you give me the news that late. I'll see you around."

Samson left, leaving Anton standing there, replaying over and over in his mind what had just transpired.

_"I'm sorry I have to word it this way, but Samson's already not your friend anymore. You're just his servant."_

"Goddammit, I'm such a _pushover_!" Anton's back hit the row of lockers behind him and he slumped. "Why can't I just say no?! It's just a two-letter word! What in the world is wrong with me?!"

* * *

It was after school, which meant another meeting for all three periods of the performance art class. As the sixth period chatted with each other as they waited for the other two periods to arrive, Zander and Jack were stuck listening to Spencer's griping.

"...So then I said, 'Okay, whatever you say,' but deep down I was thinking, 'Don't tell me what to do, you wench!' I swear, she hates me for no reason!" Spencer complained. "She's a teacher! If she doesn't like me, then at least put up with me!"

Jack looked at Zander. "How did we get into this subject again?"

Zander shot him a look back. "You were the one who had to ask him what history homework was. Never bring up that class if you don't want Spencer to talk about the skanky teacher."

"Mrs. Beemer does seem to hate him," Jack mumbled.

"She doesn't hate him for no reason," a fourth voice joined the conversation and Anton stepped in. "At the beginning of the year, Spencer—"

"Are you really going to tell them?" Spencer whined.

"What?" Zander pried, intrigued. "What is this little secret that Spencer has never told me even though we're twins and supposed to tell each other everything?"

"He was tossing around a baseball when he was walking around the neighborhood one afternoon—"

Spencer groaned.

"—And he somehow ended up throwing it at an open window of one of the houses and it hit the vase of flowers on the sill—"

"I couldn't help myself!" Spencer protested. "You know those times when you're throwing and catching a ball by yourself and for some reason, your arm spazzes out and you find yourself throwing it somewhere you don't want to throw it..."

"—and the pet cat happened to be inside underneath the window and the vase landed on her and she died," Anton finished the story. "Did I mention that this was Mrs. Beemer's house?"

"...Wooooow," Jack deadpanned.

"Am I supposed to burst out laughing or be sympathetic?" Zander snorted. "That was a stupid move, Spencer."

"Okay, so she doesn't hate me for no reason," Spencer muttered. "But that was back in September! She should learn to let go of grudges."

"You killed her precious pet who she regularly showered with love," Zander pointed out.

"How do you even know that happened anyway?" Jack turned to Anton.

Anton shrugged. "I get around."

"Or he just likes waltzing around the little gossip corner until he gets something juicy and can rub it in the poor guy's face," Cody remarked rudely, stepping in.

Anton glared. "Did anyone ask you?"

"I don't need asking. The best thing about me is that I'm not afraid to offer my honest opinion of you."

"Look, I'm not in the mood to fight with you right now, so save whatever you have to say for next time," Anton snapped, then stormed off.

"What's got him so testy?" Jack wondered.

Cody shrugged casually. "Dunno. I came here for some more chocolates, by the way."

"More?" Jack frowned, then sighed. "Fine." He took out Cici's truffles and opened the box. "McCarthy won't care about eating."

"So you're taking advantage of my consideration in giving you chocolates to hand them over to someone else?" Cici spoke teasingly, also appearing.

"What? No!" Jack defended. "He was the one who ate them without my permission and got obsessed with them! He wants more, by the way."

"It's true," Cody agreed, losing his usual sarcasm. "They're good. Really good."

Cici blinked for a moment, then nodded. "Right, thanks. I'll make more for you. I like making candies anyway."

"And we didn't get any chocolate?" Zander mock gasped, feigning offense. "That's cruel."

Spencer just looked plain jealous.

"Can I have some chocolate?" Jamie asked innocently.

"Yeah, sure—" Jack held the box out for Jamie to get a truffle from, but then realized who he was talking to and withdrew the chocolate-holding case, leaving the disappointed younger boy's hand outstretched into empty air. "What are you doing here?!"

Jamie blinked. "Oh. I didn't feel like walking home alone today so I decided to join you. Your teacher let me in, but you were so engrossed in talking with your friends that you didn't notice. And I still want some chocolate."

Jack sighed and held the container out again. "Take some."

"Hey, it's your cousin!" Cici noted cheerfully. "Hi Jamie!"

"Cousin?" Zander and Spencer questioned in unison.

Anton ended up coming back to the group. "So he's the guy who my sister always talks about?"

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Jamie, who had been concentrating on eating Jack's chocolates, did not hear what Anton said.

"Nothing."

Jamie shrugged. "Whatever. Aren't you guys supposed to be, I don't know, working instead of talking? This whole project thing sounds too big to be lazing around for."

Noticing the glares his friends (along with a few other people who were listening in) were giving the poor middle schooler, Jack took Jamie's arm. "Jamie... Maybe we should talk outside."

Once they were standing outside in the hallway, Jack said, "Remember when we were at Cici's house and she told you about everything going on right now and she said all of us were struggling? Well, we're still struggling."

"So you don't know what you want to do for the play yet?" Jamie caught on. "And you guys don't like it when a boy seven years younger points that out because that's a blow to dignity?"

"Exactly," Jack confirmed. "If I wasn't in there to take you out there, some bastard would've utterly destroyed you. So you're welcome."

"You know, if you're really stumped, then why don't you base your play on something that has happened to you? That's what I would do," Jamie advised.

Jack looked dissatisfied. "You sure about that? I doubt that any of us have lived any abnormal lives."

Jamie simply gave him an unimpressed look. "Really."

"What?" Jack frowned. "What'd I say?"

"I'm just thinking that you're beginning to forget who you were before all this high school business started," Jamie deadpanned.

Jack paused for a moment, his face lighting up when realization hit him. "Oh yeah! Jack Frost! Totally slipped my mind." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Don't ask me how I did that. I'm a dummy."

Jamie smirked smugly as they went back inside the classroom. Jack immediately went over to his friends, who were now all helping themselves to Cici's scrumptious chocolate.

"Guys! I know what we should do now!" he shouted excitedly, not noticing his chocolate being stolen until a moment later, then irritably pried the box from Zander's hands. "And stop eating my stuff!"

Not paying any attention to losing the access to Cici's chocolates, Spencer asked, shocked, "You know what we should do now?!"

"Hell yeah!" Jack grinned.

"Thanks to me," Jamie added, but was ignored.

"Then go tell Crystal and she'll tell all of us what your idea is!" Anton spoke, then muttered, "If your idea's good enough, at least."

"Trust me." Jack smirked. "It's more than good enough."

"I heard my name being said?" Crystal appeared.

"Crystal! I need to talk to you about our play idea! In private," Jack added.

"Sure." Crystal took Jack to a deserted corner where nobody would be looking in their direction. "What's up?" she asked quietly.

"I got some inspiration." Jack smirked, then explained his idea to her. She listened intently, and her eyes grew wider and wider during the passing minute as Jack's ideal plot developed into the conclusion. The idea was perfect, and that was definitely what they were going to do. That was the bottom line.

Crystal practically dragged Jack up to the front of the room, cupped her hands around her mouth, and said in a loud and clear voice, "May I have your attention please?"

The room silenced, the attention on the acting group representative of the class.

"Jack here has come up with what I think is an excellent idea to what we should do for our play." Cici smiled and motioned towards Jack. "I think he deserves the honor to be the one to explain."

Jack took a deep breath and began, "Middle school is often considered the transition from an innocent child to a more grounded person, and it's often the place where little kids realize that everything they ever believed in was wrong and the truth is actually something much deeper. For example, the birds and the bees or how Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are myths. I'm going to be focusing on the latter."

"Then why mention the birds and the bees?" a classmate named Fernando Chavez muttered with a strong Spanish accent, not meaning for Jack to hear (He heard).

"Fernando, please, just be quiet," Jack stated, completely unfazed, then continued, "Boys and girls will all stop believing in their childhood heroes at one point in their maturation into adulthood. But I was thinking along the lines of bringing back that dream where every single legend is real."

"And get them stuck thinking that they're real forever?" Fernando interrupted again. "Yeah, right."

"Fernando, shut up," Jack said, shooting a side glance at the Colombian. _Besides, they're really real. _"Besides, I wasn't thinking about anything cheesy like showing a big, red, jolly man cheerfully delivering gifts and a fluffy, little bunny pooping out eggs wherever he goes. I'm talking about stuff kids start being interested in in the sixth grade. Like actual fighting."

"And? You're not making any sense."

Jack, having absolutely enough of Fernando's little side notes, took off his right boot and chucked it at him, hitting him in the face.

"Ow!"

Jack paid no attention to the dirty boot print now on Fernando's cheek and how he was now shoeless on one foot. "What I'm trying to say is that we could group the Easter Bunny, Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and the Sandman together as the Guardians of Childhood who protect children until they reach the stage when they stop believing. The plot is that the Nightmare King, otherwise known as the Boogeyman, tries to overthrow them and implant fear into the world without happiness, hope, or wonder to interfere. The Man in the Moon, who the Guardians all worship, instructs them to gain a fifth member, the Spirit of Winter, Jack Frost." He smirked at the impressed, wide-eyed looks he was getting from everyone. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jamie grinning from ear to ear. "So. How do you like that?"

"I like it." Anton was the first to speak up. "We unite all those mythical beings and create something darker out of all of them. Pretty nice."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with him," Cody sighed.

All silence around the room was broken as murmurs arose, agreeing to the idea.

"Well I think all of us seem to like the idea," McCarthy spoke up from her desk. "It's official then. That's your play. Make it the best it can possibly be. Judging from that summary, I'll be expecting it to be perfect."

Jack looked around the room, a huge grin spreading its way across his face. He caught Jamie's eye, winked, and gave a thumbs up. Jamie returned the favor.

"So, you had something to do with his sudden inspiration?" Spencer asked him, catching the mental communication between the two.

Jamie shrugged, trying to look modest. "A little."

"Not bad, Bennett." Zander smirked.

"I second that. I'm deciding that I like you. Just stay away from my sister if you don't want that to change," Anton added loftily.

"What was that?" Jamie asked, not picking up completely on what the older boy said.

"Nothing."

**Remember how I said that things will get dark next chapter? I lied. It's the chapter after that. **

**Moving on to poll news: Parental Care is currently in the lead. (Are you guys sure you want that one to come first?) with 7 votes (No, seriously, you guys want that one?), Afterlife has 6 votes (I personally like Parental Care but), and Icy Universe and The History of Destruction (I know for a fact that it'll end up being a pretty controversial story) are tied with 4 votes each (because you guys have no idea who's going to be the dad).**

**Review replies: **

**Lovepuppy316: The fact that you even thought that Sophie wanted to urinate in front of Jack astounds me. Really... Just really? XD It was because of my ex-friend (Supreme emphasis on the ex) that I found out what erections were. Yes.**

**Randomness: If you're already calling me a devil for cutting his hair, you're going to call me Satan once you see how this story is going to end. -cough- Anyway, I'm glad you noticed Jack's personality change. It's a contributing factor to the sequel ;D Don't give up on trying to figure out what the sequel is about. Hint: As the title Powerless Guardian is referring to Jack's powerlessness, what would Forgetful Guardian be referring to? It's not that hard to figure out if you're picking up on the subtle hints I'm continuously dropping. By the way, you didn't ask a stupid question. I felt that way too when I began writing, but eventually it just came naturally. However, sometimes I still have trouble figuring out how to start the chapter, which is why the beginnings of these chapters can seem unbelievably crappy at times ._.**

**pearlsofwisdom: Unless if he has some kind of disease that prevents his hair from growing out, I'm pretty sure it'll go back to the way it was.**

**Guest: They'll pop up again soon, so just be patient. But I can guarantee that they are.**

**Dream Theme: Hm... I don't know, judging by the events that occurred in this chapter, **_**is**_** the play going to based on RoTG? And yeah, it's his vibe. It'll be explained in the end why she was so quick to trust him.**

**Maddie Seth: In Response to Your Response to My Response to Your Response to My Response to Your Response to My Response to Your Review: I'm not backing down either. 1. It's A, but you only got like half of it. 2. When I was 6, I cut off all my bangs and ended up like an egghead for the next couple of years. I have bangs again though. 3. Funnyish is just another word to add onto my own vocabulary. Don't forget epicker, epickest, funnytastic, etc.**

**Moonstar Daughter of Hades: Just...look it up on Google or Yahoo. Results are bound to pop up.**

**Hatsu Yukiya: you reviewed asdfghjkl -cough- Anyway, what's your idea for a free one-shot?**

**MagicGold34: I'm the one who's imagining the possibility that Jack might secretly be a woman, so now I'm thinking of him with this really over-the-top feathered hairpiece clipped on the side of his head. Who's the one who needs to go to the mental hospital again?**

**GhostGirl58: My inspiration? I actually thought this idea up during one of my usual daydreams. Humanity by Rand0mSmil3z might have somewhat contributed to it though.**

**Review!**


	24. In Which Jack Drinks Coffee

The week went by pretty quickly, for once. Jack was actually semi-enjoying himself lately, being extremely grateful that nothing terribly bad had happened during the past few days. They were already preparing themselves for the play at a steady pace, and along the way, he had a taste of Cici's chocolates everyday. How exactly she had time to make a new batch every single afternoon was a mystery to him.

"So she brought the recipe back from Italy?" Cody asked as he snuck a truffle into his mouth behind the teacher's back.

Jack nodded. "Yeah. I liked Italians before, but now I like them even more. They're professionals at making sweets."

"That's shallow, liking them just because they're good cooks," Cody remarked, almost sounding good-natured. Almost.

Jack almost let the urge to grin get the best of him. Cody had appeared a lot less moody around him this week, and he was sure that it was because Cody was actually warming up to him, an action the former winter spirit had deemed impossible previously. Who knows, they might become good friends one day.

"What was that?" Cody interrupted his thoughts.

"What?" Jack looked around.

"I can swear there was just something in the window by the door." Cody's narrowed eyes fixated on said window.

"Really? I didn't see anything."

"Yeah, because you were daydreaming about whatever," Cody dismissed. "I know that there was something there but now it's gone."

Jack shrugged. "Your eyes might've just been playing tricks on you. If they weren't, whatever it was, I'm pretty sure it was nothing big."

Meanwhile, Anton crouched down under the other side of the window, camera in hand. _That was _way_ too close._ Cody had almost caught him. But honestly, he'd rather let Cody catch him than let Jack catch him. He and Cody were already on really strained terms, so at least their relationship was remaining consistent even if he had been spotted. Jack, however... Were he and Anton friends? Anton supposed so. It would be a huge blow to both of them if Jack discovered what he was doing.

_If you're so reluctant, then why did you promise Samson you would do this?_ A voice in the back of his mind whispered to him.

"I don't know! I'm conflicted enough as it is, and you're not helping!" Anton snapped out loud without thinking, then clamped his hand over his mouth, looking around for anyone who were possibly staring at him weirdly. Luckily, there was nobody.

Anton sighed, got up off from the floor, then went off down the hall, not wanting to be late for class. But he couldn't help but look back at the math classroom as he left, only one thing on his mind.

_I'm sorry, Jack. I really am. I'm just not brave enough..._

* * *

"Can I have some chocolate?"

Jack looked up from his lunch. "Excuse me? What did you say?"

"Can I have some chocolate?" Spencer asked again.

Jack, deciding to seize the chance to screw with his friend (He couldn't believe how long it had been since the last time he did that), smirked deviously. "You _can_, but _may_ you? There's a difference between those two words in proper English grammar."

"_May_ I have some chocolate?" Deciding to be meek, Spencer played along.

"A much more polite way of asking that would be using the word 'please.'" Jack's smirk grew, not exactly done with beating around the bush.

"May I have some chocolate _please_?" Spencer continued on persistently.

"Did I mention that you might wanna address the person you're speaking to? How do I know you're not talking to Zander? Oh yeah, and use Mister."

Speaking of Zander, he crammed a large serving of salad into his mouth in order to prevent himself from bursting out laughing at the current banter.

"May I have some chocolate please, Mister Overland?" Spencer, ever the patient one, showed no signs of exasperation.

"Nope." Jack stuck his tongue out.

Spencer's calm persona dropped abruptly and he shouted, "WHAT!"

"Dude, you're gonna attract attention! Lower your voice," Zander said irritably when a few heads turned in their direction.

Spencer, speaking in a much quieter tone but still shooting a furious look at Jack, protested, "You made me go through all that and you still refuse?!"

"It's because those chocolates are _my_ gift from Cici," Jack spoke casually. "If you like Cici's chocolates so much, then why don't you ask her for some yourself? She's just sitting over there."

He pointed to a lunch table just two tables away. Cici was busy happily chatting away with her female friends about...whatever girls chatted about.

Spencer visibly paled, while Zander gave Jack a clearly impressed look.

"If you like her so much, then make a move already," Jack continued. "You'll end up regretting it if you don't. One day, she's gonna meet some handsome, popular jock and he's gonna snatch her up like a rag doll. And by that point, you'll be wondering why in the world you didn't do anything earlier."

"...But I'm shy..." Spencer mumbled almost incomprehensibly.

"Would you rather face your fears or let some jerk beat you to the finish line?"

Spencer, knowing full on well that he was going to lose this argument, got up defeatedly. "Alright, I'm going. If I melt into a sweaty puddle, you're in charge of mopping me up."

When he was out of earshot, Zander finally said something. "Man, you totally killed it! You hit two birds with one stone. You pissed him off _and_ you're getting him to finally talk to Cici!" He high-fived Jack, which the latter returned.

"Coming up with good ways to get someone to do something is just my thing." Jack shrugged, then hesitated. "Though I never thought I'd be trying to hook a couple up together..."

Lunch continued in silence until Spencer came scurrying back excitedly thirty seconds later. "Guysguysguys I did it! I asked her for some chocolate and she said yes!" He squealed girlishly.

"Congrats." Jack smiled, choosing to ignore Spencer's sudden femininity.

"My heart was beating like I was on a treadmill and I'm sure I almost peed my pants at one point, but I _did it_!" Spencer rambled.

"...Okay?" Zander sounded weirded out. "I think directly talking to Cici has removed the filter that prevents you from saying everything you think. You might not wanna say you almost wetted yourself again."

Spencer crumbled onto the bench. "I did it..." he muttered dreamily, clearly on cloud nine.

Zander turned to Jack. "Maybe we should've let him take his time after all."

* * *

"Jack, can I speak to you for a minute please?" In the middle of sixth period, Miss McCarthy called from her desk.

Jack approached her. "Yeah? What's up?"

"I believe you asked Timothy Harris from third period to write the script for your play?"

Jack nodded in confirmation. "That's right. What about it? Is he already done with it?"

"He is." Miss McCarthy handed him a stapled packet of papers. "He asked me to give it to you once your period came. Tomorrow's Friday, so we're having another meeting. Then you could tell him whether or not you like it."

Jack looked down at the front page, which had the neatly typed title, **RISE OF THE GUARDIANS**, clearly stated on there. "Thanks," he told his teacher then headed back to his seat.

"Is that the script?" Zander looked over his shoulder. "You should start looking through it already. Timmy's scripts take time to digest."

"On it already." Jack flipped to the second page, where the actual dialogue began. Five seconds later, he deadpanned, "I think I should've told him how I wanted him to structure the story more specifically."

"Why? What'd you have in mind?" Spencer questioned.

"Jack was alone for 300 years, wasn't he? I was planning on the play containing a prologue where it shows the moment when he rises up from the lake, not having it directly start in the middle of the battle with Pitch," Jack explained. He handed the packet over to the twins. "Here's what I'm talking about."

* * *

[JACK FROST pants heavily, lying on the ground. He looks up at the maniacally laughing PITCH BLACK, the BOOGEYMAN. He looks around him. SANTA CLAUS, TOOTH FAIRY, the EASTER BUNNY, and the SANDMAN are all in similar situations. The SANDMAN is struggling to fight off a batch of NIGHTMARES.]

**JACK: **[whispers to himself] Oh dear Man in the Moon... How did it end up this way...?

[Flashback starts]

* * *

"Okay, I've read enough," Zander said, as Spencer nodded in agreement. He handed the script back to Jack. "Yeah, a prologue does sound better than a flashback. It gives better insight to how Jack felt when he first realized he was invisible to the human eye."

"Jack was extremely shocked when he was first walked through," Jack continued on. "If we don't show that, I doubt Jack's character could be as developed if we do a flashback."

"You sound like you're speaking about yourself in third person, since your name is also Jack and all that," Zander pointed out. "It doesn't help how you're also so deep into his character, that you sound like you're Jack Frost himself."

Jack stiffened. "Yeah..." he chuckled awkwardly. "Funny thing, isn't it? I was the one who thought up this idea, so it's no surprise that I'm the one who fully understands him."

"True," Zander agreed. "But hey, you should probably finish reading. See how Timmy managed to incorporate your 300 years alone into the play without a prologue." He nudged Spencer. "Don't you agree?"

Spencer snapped out of his daze. "Huh? What?"

Zander shot him a flat look. "You're still thinking about Cici, aren't you?"

"N-No!" Spencer blushed. "I just really like her homemade chocolates! That's all!"

Zander was not convinced.

* * *

"How's that script?" Jamie asked as he and Jack walked home from school together.

"It's terrible and I hate it," Jack grumbled bluntly, not looking up from the script he was reading.

"Hey, that's harsh," Jamie defended. "Sure, it might not be exactly like the real thing and obviously it won't be as good as what really happened, but you shouldn't bash about it just because of that."

Jack handed the script to him. "Then _you_ read it."

Jamie read aloud.

* * *

**JAMIE: **You're the Boogeyman! You're... You're real?!

[PITCH turns to JAMIE with a sneer on his face. JAMIE almost flinches at how grotesque his face was.]

**PITCH:** Of course I am, little boy. How rude of you to not believe in me like that.

**JAMIE: **How did you... Were you under my bed this whole time? [checks under his bed to make sure]

**PITCH: **Oh yes, I spend my time cooped up under your bed. Out of all the beds in the world, I choose yours to hide under. [rolls his eyes]

**JAMIE: **[suddenly realizes who he's talking to, shrieks, and hides under his covers] J-Just leave m-me a-alone... [shivers in fright]

**PITCH: **[sneers again] Not quite yet. I have certain plans of revenge for my nemesis, the Guardians. And it involves you. Say goodbye, Jamie.

[JAMIE peeks out from underneath his blankets just in time to see PITCH's darkness engulf him.]

* * *

"Well?" Jack questioned impatiently, tapping his foot. "How is it?"

"...I seem like a wuss." Jamie sounded overly incredulous. So he could _kind of_ see what Jack was talking about when he said he hated it. "I don't recall ever being sucked into the Boogeyman's darkness." He looked up at Jack. "Or did it really happen and I was brainwashed into not remembering and the memory was replaced by that part where we saw all that gold sand?"

"Kiddo, I can guarantee that you were completely unharmed during our battle with Pitch. Witnessing Sandy brought back to life was all real." Jack sighed. "What was I thinking? Letting Timmy write this without telling him about the little details I wanted. There's no way he could magically know about how exactly everything happened like he's a mind reader."

"Hey, there's still time." Jamie tried to look on the positive side. "You've got plenty of time to get him to correct all these mistakes. I'm sure the play will be absolutely awesome by the time you perform it."

"Nah, that'll take forever to get it the way it's supposed to be. Maybe I should just type the script myself. Not tonight, since I have to ask Timmy if I can do that."

* * *

At his locker the next morning, Jack was confronted by the twins. Spencer was holding a newspaper in his hands.

"Jack." Zander sounded very serious.

"What's up?" Jack looked up as he finished twisting his combo and opened the locker door. His eyes immediately fell on the newspaper Spencer had a grip on. "Oh dear god. It has something to do with that, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, it does," Spencer admitted. "It's not solely about you this time though. That's one way to look at it."

Jack put a hand to his forehead. "I'm almost scared to know, but my curiosity is begging me to find out. Gimme that." He grabbed the paper from Spencer and skimmed through the article it was turned to. After he was done, his left eye twitched, but other than that, his face remained absolutely unreadable. "The. Person. Who. Wrote. This. Is. Dead."

"Who, Erik? It says it was written by him again—" Zander was cut off by Jack.

"It wasn't Erik or whatever his name is! It was Samson Fisher! He's framing Erik for writing this so he won't get in trouble! Think about it, guys. If Erik really wrote this, would he be so honest and say it was him? Besides, I don't even know who the dude is, so there's no way he could be writing dirt about me if we haven't even met. Unless if he's just one of those people who likes picking on new kids."

"Erik's a well-behaved student," Spencer assured. "You're right, it'd be really uncharacteristic of him to write that. Samson's a much more believable culprit."

"So... You're mad," Zander pointed out brilliantly. "And I didn't think you would be any more livid than last time when you were gossiped about. I'm just hoping you're not stuffing yourself again."

"Wait, stuffing? What?" Spencer asked, confused.

"Long and humiliating story, don't ask," Jack dismissed. "But seriously—" He thrusted the paper into Spencer's face and quoted the headline of the article, "'**Possible Couple?** **Jody?!**' I'm not sharing those chocolates with Cody because I have a crush on him! I'm sharing those chocolates with him because that's my method of getting him to open up! Sure, it may seem a little misunderstanding at first, but sharing truffles does _not _mean we're in love! I'm straight, and Cody is too! People only accuse him of being gay because they _think_ his last name is Gay when it's really not!" _Wow, Jack, that was a longer rant than usual,_ he told himself.

"Wait, what? What's his last name then?" Zander asked.

"Gray. You two didn't know that either?" Jack inquired. _Gee, Anton was right about a lot of people not knowing._

Spencer shook his head. "We didn't. See, he never spoke up about it and obviously people refer to him by his first name. It's weird, since our school usually catches on to info like this. I guess that just shows how much of a hermit Cody is."

"He's an expert at it," Zander added.

"Me and Cody were borderline on actually becoming friends. I was this close to getting him out of his tough shell," Jack growled. "And I am sick and tired of letting Samson intrude with his own crap. If Cody begins distancing himself from me again, which he likely will, I'm taking out all my punches and kicks on Samson." With that, he slammed his locker shut and trudged off.

Zander looked at Spencer. "Remember how he punched Samson's locker last time?"

"Yeah?"

"Compared to now, he was actually taking that anorexia accusation really well."

* * *

"He's still mad, isn't he?" Spencer asked his brother as they both watched Jack stab his lunch viciously with his fork.

"You know he's mad if he's trying to eat his pizza with a fork," Zander answered back.

"He didn't talk to me, guys!" Jack spoke irritably. "He looked like he'd rather be anywhere else! This just proves he heard about it and wants to avoid me!"

"Because it's still fresh in his mind!" Spencer tried to provide comfort. "Maybe he'll be better on Monday."

"When have you ever expected Cody Gray to let something go within a few days?" Zander pointed out. Even though his question was too blunt to give off assurance, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jack relax a little bit, probably from hearing him use Cody's real last name.

Spencer looked at him, annoyed. "Not helping, Zander!"

Zander was about to say something caustic when Jack took his phone out of his pocket after feeling it vibrate. "Text from Jamie. 'Hey Jack, I'm not going to come over after school today. Me and my friends are going to the park and bang for a while. Could you tell mom so she won't worry when you head home without me? I would do it myself but I'm in class right now,'" he read aloud flatly. _Jamie, shame on you for using your phone in class._

"Bang?" Spencer questioned.

Zander just looked purely amused.

Jack shook his head and sighed. He swiftly texted back, _Jamie, I know for a fact your mom's not gonna approve. I've known her long enough to say that she didn't raise you to be some perverted player, and I'm almost sure Pippa and Cupcake weren't raised to be slutty prostitutes. So no, you can't go. Your mom would kill me if I let you go._

He set his phone on the table, waiting for Jamie's reply. He picked up his pizza and bit into it.

"So Bennett's finally letting his hormones get the better of him? Maybe his mom gave him the Talk too soon," Zander remarked.

"I didn't think Jamie was like that." Spencer sounded disturbed.

The phone's screen lit up, indicating a new message. Jack read, "'Huh? What are you talking about?' That's what he says. What am I talking about. Like he has no idea." Jack was gradually starting to let a tone of mirth seep through his irritation.

_Look back at your previous texts,_ he wrote back.

The reply came no more than a few seconds later. _Oh gosh oh my god I wrote BANG?! I meant HANG! Ohgodohgodohgod_

"Well? What'd he say?" Zander queried expectantly.

"He meant 'hang,'" Jack replied amusedly and smirked. He dialed a number and held his phone to his ear. After a few rings, the receiver picked up. "Hey, Mrs. Bennett? Jamie's gonna be hanging out with his friends in the park this afternoon ... So that's an okay? ... Alright, thanks, bye."

He hung up, then checked his texts again. Much to his bewilderment, Jamie had managed to send three more texts during that short amount of time.

_I swear Jack I didn't mean that_

_I wanna keep my virginity_

_Am I annoying you now? Because you're not responding._

Jack rolled his eyes and texted back, _Kid, I called your mom already and she said yes. Now shut up and go have fun. You don't need to spam me, especially not when you're in the middle of class. Now stop using your phone before your teacher catches you._

"Bennett's entertaining," Zander admitted.

Spencer opened his mouth to object, but then truthfully agreed, "He is."

"Okay, that was pretty funny," Jack muttered, trying to suppress his grin. "But I'm still really mad about the article."

Zander rolled his eyes. "Of course."

* * *

"Hey, Timmy. I read the script you wrote," Jack said to Timothy after school during the meeting.

"You did? How was it?" Timothy asked curiously.

Jack, not knowing how to tell him how badly he disliked it, simply asked, "Can I type it myself instead?"

"...So you didn't like it," Timothy deadpanned.

"No! No, I liked it, it's just that..." Jack trailed off. "Okay, I didn't like it. I'm sorry. But it's only because it wasn't the way I pictured it in my mind. And it's my fault for that, so yeah. I just want to type it myself since I have everything planned out in my brain."

Timothy nodded understandingly. "I totally get it. You could type it yourself if you want."

"Thanks." Inwardly, Jack let out a sigh of relief. He was afraid he would hurt Timothy's feelings. The poor guy was a freshman, so Jack was paranoid his emotions were too sensitive to handle criticism from a senior.

"By the way..." Timothy leaned in and whispered, "Are you and Cody an item?"

"What? No!" Jack frowned. "That article was bogus. You shouldn't believe one word."

Timothy nodded again. "I had a feeling it was false. I just wanted to make sure. You see, most people really don't believe it. There was that thing a couple weeks ago about how you were struggling with anorexia, which was already pretty surreal, and now that you're talked about again? It just sounds like someone's actually trying to accuse you of something."

Jack really let out a sigh of relief this time. "No one really believes it? Oh, thank god. You have no idea how stressed out I was all day long today. Anyway, I'll see you around."

He went back to where Zander and Spencer were talking.

"Did he say yes?" Spencer asked once he noticed Jack was back.

Jack nodded. "Yeah. Good thing too. The last thing I need is a freshman pissed off at me."

"Alright, we're making pretty fast progress now that we know what to do." Zander grinned. "We should hold role auditions on Monday."

"R... Role auditions?" Jack questioned, not expecting to hear that.

"Duh. What'd you think we do, randomly choose people who are interested in an acting part?"

Jack knew better than to tell Zander that really was what he was thinking. He had expected that he could just snatch up the part of Jack Frost by first come, first serve.

Anton, who was passing by and overhearing, decided to input his own commentary. "It's you and me who has to hold the auditions, by the way. You know, because the hosts are the ones who have to do everything."

Jack groaned. The last thing he wanted was to see some pathetic students fail epically at playing his part. Just thinking about it was enough to make him cringe.

Noticing Jack's blatant dismay, Spencer said, "Don't worry, me and Zander will join you guys. Just to help you get through the trauma."

"We will?" Zander stared at his brother.

"Yes we will." Spencer gave Zander a look that clearly had one message: _Don't make me use blackmail._

Zander sighed. "Okay, we will."

* * *

Jack tightened the scarf around his neck as he left the school building. It was a chilly day out, and the wind wasn't being gentle either. Jack sighed as he looked up at the sky. Was the wind missing him? He was sure it was. It was just over a month ago since he got humanized, and mortal life really wasn't shaping up to be fluffy unicorns and beautiful rainbows. He swore he really was thinking that everyday recently. Well, things could be worse, he supposed. But still, he missed the times when he could go around in the snow barefoot. Now he could barely handle being out on a windy day without a scarf.

_I'm craving some coffee_, he thought suddenly. Coffee was warm and so rich, especially on a day like this, and the fragrance was so nice... _Wait, I'm craving coffee? That's a first._ It was true. He normally disliked hot drinks, so coffee was the last thing he expected to want. Oh well, a little coffee never hurt anyone. Except for making someone uncomfortably hyper, that is. He could head to the Starbucks where Cici worked. Yeah, that sounded like a decent plan.

Once he got there, he opened the door and let himself in. He was hit by a blast of warm air from the heater. Cici looked up from her place at the cash register, and smiled when she saw who it was. "Hey Jack! You want something?"

"Hey Cici," Jack greeted. "Yeah, coffee, venti size. I'm suddenly craving for some. Don't ask why, I usually hate coffee."

"Coming right up! Oh yeah, and it's on the house," Cici added. "We employees get a free cup of coffee each day. I don't want mine, so you could have it."

"Are you sure?" Jack asked skeptically.

"Of course I am. You don't need to sound all polite with me. We're friends, aren't we?" Cici pointed out as she got Jack's coffee ready. "Here ya go! Fresh coffee."

"Thanks." Jack took a sip, and resisted the urge to spit it out. "Ugh! Bitter!"

Cici rolled her eyes. "Of course it's bitter. It's coffee, isn't it? Please tell me you've had Starbucks before."

"Um... I have?" Jack's answer sounded too unsure to be truthful.

Cici rolled her eyes again. "You're funny. If it's really too bitter for you, then maybe the little hummingbird sitting on your shoulder would want some."

Jack chuckled. "Yeah, sure, and you say I'm the one who's funny. Anyway, I'll see you around." He left the shop, then shook his head in amusement. "My little hummingbird... Funny." He took a large sip of his coffee.

It clicked.

Jack really spit out his coffee this time. He ignored whatever looks he was possibly getting from bystanders, and shared a wide-eyed look with Baby Tooth, who seemed to have been trying to get his attention during the past few seconds.

_My little hummingbird?!_

**Ah, cliffhangers. How long has it been since I used thee?**

**And update within two days. YEAH, SUCK IT BITCHES**

**However, the excessive use of line breaks makes me upset. I've been feeling that the quality of my chapters have been downgrading lately.**

**Not a lot to say today, so I'll go straight to replies.**

**RandomKrazyPerson: Yeah, I'll need a bunker. Not that I'm afraid of anybody, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. I'm the one who can drive the expert psychologist insane. I'm just good at that.**

**PuppetMaster55: Ay, you know giving the Guardians phones is one of my biggest regrets? I don't know what I was thinking. And yeah, Jack's forgetting Baby Tooth, isn't he? That's not a good sign. And you're the only one so far who noticed something going on with Jack's vision. I commend you for that.**

**Guest: The fact that you're considering that Jack's going to give up and leave the Guardians worries me.**

**Arkie: Honestly, I keep on forgetting that Jack took Wynter in. I've been forgetting her more than I forget Baby Tooth.**

**GhostGirl58: Did this other person happen to be Hatsu Yukiya? I remember her saying that. And this story is going where I want it to go. That's where it's going :P**

**likhitata: I chopped my bangs off when I was five because I didn't like bangs back then (What was I thinking?) so I looked like an egghead. And is your education system really that strict in Florida? We're allowed to do what Jamie did here in California :D And I don't think Jamie will ever find out that Kayla likes him. Fun fact: My twisted headcanon states that Pippa secretly has a tiny, innocent childhood crush on Jack. Yeah, that's complicated for everyone.**

**Lovepuppy316: That info is not irrelevant at all. You're actually catching on to what the sequel will be about. Also, my parents often use the toilet when I'm in there as well. So you're not alone. If it wasn't for my friends, I would not be missing my innocence right now. Curse you, friends! You're actually helping me develop Jack's ideal play, so thank you. And yeah, he'll be pretty pissed if anyone messes the play up. You know what that means? Someone's gonna mess up the play, just because I like Jack when he's pissed off. The squiggly line just means she prolongs the syllable in a sugar-coated manner. Jack will not let you take his shoe. **

**YandereGoddess: It's going to be Cici and Spencer. No love interest for Jack. And I heard you were in the hospital. Are you okay? Don't give up in trying to figure it out. Hint: I'm going to pull something **_**extremely**_** evil. **_**You**_** have too many stories in progress? I have never finished a story once. Finishing this one will be a major accomplishment for me. ((Jamie's a genius))**

**MagicGold34: I'm sure they did...did they? Look, now I'm not sure because you questioned it! D: I suck at history too. Did they even have ice skates in the 1700's?**

**Review!**


	25. In Which Jack Cusses in Front of Tooth

**Yaknowwut. I said this chapter would be dark. I lied. Again. I don't know what I was even remotely thinking when I said this would be the dark chapter. It's either the next chapter or the one after that. I'm not even sure anymore. But it's coming soon. I PROMISE.**

Bunnymund's long ears popped out of the rabbit hole irritably, followed by the rest of his body. He jumped out, closed up the hole, and whirled on North, who was standing no more than ten feet away. "Crikey, North! Haven't ya ever thought about how I might be busy when you summon the lights?!"

North spoke, and for once, there was no jolliness to it. "Do you think I would summon you here if it was not important?"

Bunnymund's agitation faded into concern. "What happened? Is it Jack?"

North's blue eyes shifted off to the side. "It may or may not have something to do with Jack."

"What is it?"

"My belly tells me that Pitch was just here earlier today," North explained. "He left trails of nightmare sand."

Bunnymund, knowing better than to question North's theory especially after what happened last time, pressed on, "Mate, I need details. Yer bein' too vague."

"Earlier today, Phil came bursting into office saying that there was disturbance in gift room," North began. "I went to examine, and I found black sprinkles of sand scattered all around." He held up a jar that Bunnymund hadn't noticed he had been holding. Inside was a fair amount of nightmare sand. "If this is not Pitch's doing, then I do not know who else can make this sort of sand."

"Well then, what were ya sayin' about how this might have somethin' to do with Jack?" Bunnymund interrogated. "The last time I checked, the Boogeyman and that infuriating sprite-turned-human were not the same person."

"I meant that Pitch's reasons for coming here might have something to do with Jack!" North exclaimed. "He probably heard about Jack's temporary mortality and is seizing advantage of it! If it were not for Jack, Pitch would have won last battle. Jack now out of way, so Pitch has perfect chance."

"...So what do we do?" Bunnymund asked, after a slight pause. "We tell Frostbite to watch out for Pitch? The boy has been stressed out already, North. Both you and I know that. He's already on the lookout for that bloody immortality blob. Knowing about Pitch won't help him at all."

"I do not want to tell him either," North admitted. "But it is not like we have a choice. There is already so much going on that he still does not know about. Nobody has seen the poor boy for weeks, Bunny. It is time to start communicating again, no?"

"...Okay," Bunnymund reluctantly grumbled. "If ya say so. So now what, we wait for Tooth and Sandy to show up?"

North nodded. "We cannot just go over to Jack without them."

* * *

Jack just didn't get it. He really didn't get it. Cici could see Baby Tooth? That was the last thing he had ever expected from her. If she could see, then that meant she believed. She just had to. There was no other explanation for her capability to see what was supposed to be invisible to her. But the question that truly perplexed Jack was _why_ Cici still believed. He seriously doubted she ended up having a similar experience to Jamie's own adventures. So believing because of a personal run-in with a Guardian could safely be crossed off of the list of reasons.

His mind had been focused on this sudden revelation all day yesterday and certainly all day today. Maybe he should've gone back to Starbucks when he first realized Cici's being able to see one of the Tooth Fairy's helpers...

"Jack? Jack? Jack!"

Jack snapped out of his daze and looked at Jamie. "Oh hey, you're back. Couldn't you tell I was having a deep train of thought?! You just cut right through it and now I'm having trouble going back!"

Jamie frowned, offended. "Hey! You looked troubled, so I just decided to snap you out of it! Caleb and Claude are here again, by the way."

"Hiya!" Caleb declared cheerfully.

"Hello, Jamie's-friends-who-always-seem-to-like-coming-ove r-here-but-never-invite-Jamie-over-to-their-own-ho me," Jack greeted. Then he turned to Jamie. "Kiddo, I'm gonna have to go out for a while. Make sure your twin friends don't end up going into my room again."

"Where are you going?" Jamie asked curiously.

"To a friend's place," Jack answered cryptically. "I need to ask her about something. And beg her for some more chocolates." _And demand answers from her._ He decided that if he was going to spend all his hours pondering about this shocking truth, then he might as well go ahead and speak up about it.

"Oh, so it's a her." Caleb raised his eyebrows. "Going over to her house too."

"And you want chocolates from her," Claude snickered.

Jack gave them a deadpan look. "Guys. Imply something dirty and I will implant knives into your guts. Same thing for you, Jamie."

"What!" Jamie cried. "What'd I do?!"

"Be an accomplice." Jack smirked evilly and got up off the couch. "Anyway, see you guys around." He went over to the door, opened it, and left.

Claude hesitated, then started, "You know, about Pippa's crush on him—"

"DON'T. Just...don't bring that up," Jamie hissed. "It's better if Jack doesn't know about that."

* * *

Jack took a deep breath and rang Cici's doorbell. Time for a giant confrontation and lots of explaining to do on both sides. Yes, both sides. While strolling, Jack had ultimately decided to simply confess his side of the story. That is, if Cici really believed like he suspected her to.

Cici answered the door and seemed surprised at who it was. "Oh, hey Jack. What's up?"

Jack looked away. "Can I come in, Cici?"

Cici stepped aside to let him in. "What's the problem?"

Jack stepped inside, and asked bluntly, "You know about my hummingbird?"

Cici frowned in confusion. "Huh? Of course I do. She's always sitting on your shoulder. How can I not notice?"

Jack didn't realize that he had been considering the possibility that he had only imagined Cici's remark yesterday until he let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding in.

Cici grew concerned. "Jack, what's wrong?"

"Could you make a fresh batch of chocolates?" Jack asked abruptly. "We can talk while the mix is heating up. I think Cody would enjoy your truffles on Monday. Judging from how he seemed to be feeling yesterday, he needs some serious cheering up."

Cici nodded. "I can do that. But it might be a while before I get the chocolate ready to boil."

"No need to hurry. I've got all the time in the world."

Nearly half an hour later, when Cici's chocolatey goodness was being heated on the stove, the girl led Jack up to his room. She closed the door behind her. "Okay. What was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

Jack motioned towards Baby Tooth, who flew off of her perch on his shoulder and chirped. "This isn't just an ordinary hummingbird, Cici. This, to make it straightforward, is one of the Tooth Fairy's helpers."

Cici was silent, then tentatively questioned, "Did... Did you just say the Tooth Fairy?"

That set Jack off onto a ranting spree, and he rambled as quickly as possible, "Youseeshe'srealandshe'spartofthisgroupcalledtheGu ardiansandthislittleminifairyisjustoneofmillionsof helpersshehas—"

Cici tried to listen intently at first, but soon found Jack incomprehensible and gave up. "Jack, talk slower. I'm not picking up one word you're spewing out at me."

Jack took a deep breath to calm himself. "Sorry. I just got way too excited. Anyway, as I was saying..." He started over, clearly this time, explained everything about Tooth and the rest of the Guardians except for himself.

"...So they're the Guardians," Jack summed it all up. After a brief moment of hesitation, he added, "And there's also a fifth member, Jack Frost. But I'll talk about him later, once you've soaked the rest of it in."

Both of them had sometime sat down on Cici's bed during Jack's explanation. Unsurprisingly, Cici was staring unblinkingly at him by this point. Her mouth was somewhat open, as if she wanted to drop her jaw but decided against it. "So what you're saying is that...all those childhood legends we believed in as kids are real? Except that they're...not exactly the way we envisioned them to be?"

Jack nodded in confirmation. "Especially the Easter Bunny. You picture him as a fluffy, tiny, cheerful rabbit, but he's the complete opposite of that."

Cici's shock finally wore off, and she closed this particular topic. "Okay... Let's talk about other matters now."

"Other matters?"

Cici gave him a knowing look. "Jack Frost. Or should I say, Jack 'Overland.'" She inserted finger air quotes around Overland.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so you've pretty much caught on to the rest of the truth."

"Of course I have," Cici smirked. "It doesn't take a genius to do that. I may be a gullible person, but I'm very observant. When you brought Jack Frost up, you had that distant look about your face and you weren't doing a very good job at hiding your reluctance to bring him up. It doesn't help how you're both named Jack either."

"Jack is one of the most common names out there," Jack defended.

"That doesn't exactly help your argument, considering I also brought up your hesitation and whatnot," Cici pointed out. "Besides, why are you even trying to cover yourself up? You already admitted that I'm right."

Jack opened his mouth to retort, but realizing that Cici wasn't exactly lying, he shut up. "Alright, I'm Jack Frost. I admit it. I was going to tell you anyway, but it seems you beat me to the punch."

Cici was smug. "I knew it. So what happened? I mean, shouldn't Jack Frost be...you know, immortal and stuff?"

Jack sighed. "He is. It's sorta a long story..." He gave her a terse description of what had happened to him and why he was temporarily stuck as a human. "So I somehow convinced Jamie's mom to house me for the time being. I'm not sure how I managed that, but I did."

"Does that mean Jamie also knows?"

Jack nodded. "Yup. He's the only one too. Well, except for his friends and the rest of the Guardians, obviously." He shot a side glance at her. "And now you. You're actually taking this better than I thought you would."

Cici shrugged nonchalantly. "All of my initial shock was used up when you first started that story about your fellow Guardians. How old are you, anyway?"

"Three hundred and eighteen," Jack spoke cheerfully as if that was perfectly normal.

Cici looked at him for a small moment, but then shrugged it off. "I shouldn't be surprised. You're an immortal, I didn't expect you to be any younger than that."

"Hey, did you just imply that I'm old?" Jack asked, pretending to be offended.

"Maybe." Cici stuck out her tongue.

Suddenly teeming with curiosity, Jack asked, "Hey, how were you even able to see Baby Tooth in the first place? You usually have to believe to be able to see. I've never met one person the same age as you who still believes."

Cici's playfulness disappeared completely as she flushed. "Well... You see..."

Sensing that he touched on a sensitive topic, Jack said hurriedly, "You don't have to tell me if you don't wanna. It's not like I need to know."

Relief became visible on Cici's face. "Thanks. Sorry about that."

Jack shook his head dismissively. "No, no! It's totally fine." _The only other time I've seen her act this way is when I asked her about her dad..._

Cici's normal attitude returned and she lay down on her bed. "So I'm guessing that you want this to remain a secret between you and me?"

Jack scoffed. "Of course. Even if you try to tell Zander and-or Spencer, neither of them will believe you and think you're cuckoo in the head." He thought for a minute. "Well, Zander will. I'm not too sure about Spencer." He got up and stretched. "Ya know, I never realized how much I wanted to tell someone about who I really am until I actually told you. It feels like a giant weight's been lifted off my shoulders."

Cici was about to reply when a giant portal suddenly appeared off to the side, and a fairy, a rabbit, a stout, golden man, and a bulky Russian tumbled out. Well, the fairy didn't tumble as her wings were fluttering and the golden man had landed gracefully on his feet. It was really the Russian and the rabbit who became entangled with each other.

Jack simply looked at the current scene flatly, while Cici's eyes were about to pop out of her head.

"Cici?" Jack asked, face still unreadable.

"Yeah?"

"You see the heap of misfits too, right?"

"Uh huh."

"Oy! Misfits?!" Bunny shouted from his giant coil with North. "Whaddaya mean misfits?! You're one to talk!"

"I'm not the one who's trying to play Twister with Santa Claus!" Jack shot back, then turned to Cici. "I'm sorry for the sudden intrusion of these four."

Cici tried to wave it off casually. "Oh no... It's okay..." She gave up on trying to act cool-headed. "Santa's in my room," she said stiffly as she continued staring.

"And the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and the Sandman," Bunny added, finally managing to free himself. "E. Aster Bunnymund's the name."

"Hello!" Tooth chirped excitedly. "Are you one of Jack's friends?"

"What the _hell_ are you guys doing here?!" Jack's fuse suddenly reached its destination and he exploded. "Can you _not_ see that I'm at a friend's house?! And then you pop in like you're supposed to do that?!"

Bunnymund looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "You weren't at Jamie's when we went to pay ya a visit, mate. He said ya went out."

"So?! The least you could've done was wait until I got home!"

"We couldn't wait for ya to get home! It's urgent news, Frostbite!" Bunny exclaimed.

Jack's rage momentarily faded enough for him to question worriedly, "What happened? Is it Immo?"

North gave Bunny a triumphant look. "See? Jack likes that name."

"...I really don't," Jack offered the honest truth. "I'm only calling him that because I don't want to call him 'immortality monster blob' every time."

"That's not why we're here, Jack," Tooth piped up. "We've got a second bad guy to worry about now. Pitch is back."

"..." Jack was speechless, processing this new problem.

"Who's Pitch?" Cici asked.

Sandy was the one who explained to her, creating an image of Pitch's silhouette, followed by a bed, above his head. Luckily, he didn't need to create any more pictures.

"The Boogeyman?" Cici correctly guessed. She turned to Jack. "Good luck dealing with him along with Immo."

"...Fuck," Jack finally stated. "Fuck. Fuckity fuck fuck."

Bunny looked at Cici. "Mind fillin' in for me what exactly you teenagers are learnin' in English class nowadays? 'Cause that vocabulary is horrendous."

Tooth's expression was something akin to horror. "JACK! Language! Do you speak to Jamie and his mother with that mouth?! Honestly, a person with as beautiful teeth as yours shouldn't be cursing so fluently like that!"

Baby Tooth, who had nestled herself on the top of Jack's head, shook with silent laughter. So her mother really disapproved of Jack's lingual habits.

Cici stood up awkwardly. "Okay... I think I let my chocolate simmer way too long. I'm just gonna...go downstairs..." She carefully scooted out of her room.

Jack gave everyone else unimpressed glances. "Now she feels awkward. This is why you should always wait for me at Jamie's."

"You coulda scared her off anyway with that rotten language of yours," Bunnymund deadpanned back. "Besides, ya know deep down that we have completely justified reasons to be here."

"...Hey, I just realized that your friend sees us when she shouldn't be able to," Tooth said astonishingly. "How is that possible?"

Jack shrugged. "I, uh, told her the truth about me right before you guys popped up. B

Now before you yell at me for doing that, I had my own justified reasons. She was able to see Baby Tooth."

"What? Why? How?" Tooth shot out a flurry of questions.

Jack shrugged again. "Dunno. I asked her why she still believed, but she tensed up and I ended up dropping the subject."

"Jack, when typical teenager such as her still believes, it is almost always because of good reason. She cannot just keep on believing just because," North spoke.

Jack sighed. "I know, North. That's why I asked her. But for whatever reason, she doesn't want to talk about it. It's a touchy subject for her, I can tell. The real problem for me is how I'm gonna crack her open."

Tooth looked surprised. "Jack, are you saying you actually want to find out even though she doesn't want you to?"

"Why not? I'm good at getting people to open up apparently. There's this guy named Anton who I managed to befriend even though I was sure he hated me, and there's this other guy who's antisocial named Cody who I started becoming acquainted with until something happened yesterday. Don't ask what, because it's something I don't wanna be reminded of."

"Girls are tough nuts to crack, Jack," Tooth objected. "Are you sure you'll be able to pull it off?"

"Hopefully yes." Jack tried to act optimistic for a change. "I'm already good friends with her. Getting her to fess up shouldn't be too difficult." He began to look slightly troubled. "And one more thing. This involves me more than anyone else, but...is it possible for a Guardian to forget himself?"

"I do not think I understand, Jack—" North was cut off.

"Just a couple days ago, Jamie had to remind me that I used to be Jack Frost," Jack confessed. "I don't know what happened that made that fact slip my mind. When I remembered, I didn't really think it was that big of a deal, but then once I really thought about it, it seemed wrong on so many levels. And I was just thinking that...this shows that I might actually forget you guys and...myself. I don't want that to happen."

"Jack, I'm sure it was just a one-time thing," Tooth reassured. "It's natural for that to happen. You just can't have too much stuff on your mind at once, and judging from what I've heard and the way you reacted when we told you about Pitch, you've been pretty stressed lately. Besides, it was just momentary, wasn't it?"

"Yeah..." Jack pretended that Tooth's comfort convinced him that he was just worrying too much. Pretended. "Maybe it's not that important. I'm probably just being way too neurotic. Thanks, Tooth."

**In general, this is a long chapter. However, when compared to the previous few chapters, it's kind of short. Whatever. We can all agree that this was one of the most important chapters yet, can we? Also, some major foreshadowing here at the end.**

**Also, IMPORTANT: Final part of my story poll is up on my profile. I took the story idea that had the most votes for each part and put them all together. Now let's see which one prevails.**

**Even though this review reply event was supposed to be a one-time thing, I'm doing it every chapter now. Whatever, people seem to like how I reply.**

**Hatsu Yukiya: no don't fight Cici she's a cheerleader so she must have a good kick in her and yes bad things are happening and I don't know what sorcery I'm using right now I'm just updating fast recently kay Yellowstone's awesome, by the way.**

**PuppetMaster55: I wear glasses too. My eyes are the worst. And sure, I guess we can go with how his phone is set to delete contacts, even though I have an iPhone myself and it doesn't have that sort of function. I've just noticed that Jamie's pretty miserable in this story himself. I thought Jack was the only one. **

**agent000: you reviewed you lovely person asdfghjkl Jack's not using logic in this story at all. Or at least, not for the most part. And I guess I might just have a skill at making my OC's interesting, judging from what everyone is saying. But thanks anyway!**

**Lovepuppy316: Spoiler alert: She's playing Tooth. Spoiler alert: Cody is Pitch. -cough- Yes, let's hope she doesn't read the paper ._. Yes, Wynter should do that XD **

**RandomKrazyPerson: Are you sure I'm not the meanest one out there? I still am doing that thing at the end of this story... -whistles-**

**Randomness: If you think the right way, it's really easy to figure it out. Here's something to get you started: What's the worst possible way I can end this story? Think of an answer to that, and it'll be like a chain reaction. You'll figure it out. By the way, if you find me, who's going to continue writing this? Ha!**

**Review again because I'm on some kind of updating spree and your reviews make me happy even though I frequently become emo and stuff like Cody... Hell, even this author's note is shorter than usual. Is that good or bad?**


	26. In Which Jack Hates the Auditions

On Monday before school, Jack saw Zander and Spencer engrossed in a conversation by the history classroom door. He approached them, only picking up the end words of Zander's sentence.

"...and it's best if he doesn't know about it, alright? He's upset enough as it is."

"What's best if who doesn't know about what because who's upset enough as it is?" Jack asked.

The twins apparently did not sense Jack's presence, because both of them jumped at the sound of his voice.

Spencer began stammering, "Um... We were just talking about...nothing! Yeah, I-I mean, nothing!"

Zander put a palm to his forehead. "Dude... Shut up. Just...shut up. Let me handle this." He turned to Jack. "It wasn't anything involving you."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Spencer was coherent enough to deliver that point across. But who were you talking about?"

"Oh hey, did you just hear that?" Spencer intervened quickly. "The bell just rang!"

"I didn't hear the bell ring—"

Zander, however, immediately agreed with his brother. "Yeah! We should get to class before we're late. I'll see you guys at lunch." He hurried off.

"Wait, are you guys sure you heard the bell ring?" Jack furrowed his brows in confusion. "'Cause I'm 80 percent sure I'm not deaf as I am blind."

"Well, me and Zander both heard it, so yeah," Spencer lied, secretly proud of himself that he wasn't stuttering. "And you're blind? How come I didn't know that?"

"I'm not literally blind," Jack explained. "It's that occasionally I don't notice something in my line of sight, even though it's standing right there out in the open. And you know how I sit in the back in history class? Whatever Mrs. Beemer writes on the board is slightly blurry."

"That's a bad sign." Spencer grew concerned. "You should go see an optometrist."

"Optomewha...?"

"An eye doctor," Spencer explained patiently. "I can recommend my own eye doctor to you if you're interested."

Jack shrugged. "Maybe I'll get glasses, but not right away. It's not that bad, and I can still tell what she writes on the board. It's just not that clear."

Spencer would've probably objected to that decision if the bell didn't just ring at that moment.

Jack looked at him flatly. "So the bell rang, huh? I knew it."

Spencer raised his hands defensively. "Hey, people make mistakes all the time. Besides, it's not a big deal. It's better if we're early anyway."

* * *

Zander and Spencer met Jack and Anton in the multipurpose room, where they were holding auditions for the play. Anton was looking through some sort of list, which contained all the names of people who signed up to take on a role.

"So who's up for auditions?" Zander asked.

Anton flipped back to the front page of the list and replied, "We got a decent amount of people for each part, except for the Sandman. I'm guessing it's because nobody wants to keep silent for 90 minutes. On the other hand, Jack Frost is getting a lot of people wanting his role, since he's the main character and all."

"Jack's an interesting guy, anyway," Spencer added.

"Yeah, can we just get this over with?" Jack griped. "I just wanna hurry up and go through this crap before I burst."

"What's up with you all of a sudden?" Zander questioned.

Jack sighed in exasperation. "I'm just having a bad day, alright? Cody isn't at school today, leaving the chocolates I asked Cici to make go to waste. I really need to talk to him and say that he shouldn't care so much about what happened on Friday."

Anton blinked. "I'm just gonna...talk to your two friends for a second." He dragged Zander and Spencer by their arms to the other side of the room, and asked quietly, "Did you guys not tell him about what happened to Cody?"

Spencer shook his head. "No. He was really upset when he paper first came out. He doesn't need anything else to bring him down further."

Anton looked down at his feet. "Right. It's probably best if he doesn't know what happened."

"You're acting funny," Zander frowned. "What's up with you?"

"You should know," Anton sulked. "After all, I'm Samson's best friend."

Spencer winced, quickly catching on.

"What does Samson have anything to do with this—" Zander put two and two together. "...Oh."

"Yeah. _Oh. _If Jack knows I had a part in this, he will kill me. Especially if he knows that Cody is in the hospital right now."

"Then why'd you do it in the first place?" Spencer questioned. There was no accusation behind his tone, simply genuine curiosity.

"I don't even know," Anton groaned and leaned against the wall, face in his hands. "I'm just a big pushover, I guess. I'm just his dumbass sidekick."

"Why are you even telling us all this anyway?" Zander crossed his arms. "We barely know each other."

"Because I feel guilty, as you can pretty much tell already," Anton admitted. "I wanna tell Jack what happened, but I don't know how he'll react when I explain my part in it. You guys hang out with him everyday, so you seemed like the next best option."

Zander uncrossed his arms. "Talk to him anyway. You can do it after the auditions. If he gets mad, then he'll have to cool off eventually. Trust me, he'll listen."

Anton uncovered his face. "Fine by me. Let's just go back now."

When they went back to where Jack was waiting for them, the latter questioned, "What were you guys talking about?"

"Nothing," Anton dismissed.

Jack frowned. "I get the feeling that all of you are hiding something from me."

Anton looked away. "Can we just start this already?"

Jack glanced at him for a few seconds, but then shrugged it off. "Okay then." He turned to Spencer. "Could you get the first person in here?"

* * *

Jack was pissed. Oh, so pissed. Why? Because it turned out that pretty much everyone who signed up for auditioning sucked at the roles they wanted. And for some reason that Jack couldn't care less to know about, they particularly sucked more at the Jack Frost part. Jack lost count of how many times he felt like his stomach came up to his throat when he watched boys utterly fail at impersonating him. By the time there were only a couple more people left, Jack had literally crawled out of his chair and was now laying on the floor flat on his stomach, hands clamped tightly over his face, desperately trying to hold in a frustrated scream.

Spencer looked at him in concern. "Should we help him?"

Zander waved his worry off flippantly. "Ignore him. He'll bounce back like he always does. Get the next person in here."

Anton got up and went over to the door. He opened it, letting the next person inside. "Hey, Fernando."

Fernando waved. "Hello. I'm playing Jack Frost."

Zander peered over at the newcomer. "I thought you didn't approve of Jack's play idea."

Fernando blushed. "I changed my mind! I'm not forbidden to do that." He looked over at Jack. "And why is he on the floor?"

Jack, not even removing his hands from his face, mumbled, "Jack Frost isn't Mexican."

Fernando scoffed. "I never expected you to be the racist type."

"I'm not racist, I'm just making an innocent remark."

"He's just cranky right now," Spencer assured, "and he's really picky when it comes to casting Jack Frost. So don't mind him. You think you got what it takes?"

Fernando nodded. "I hope so."

Zander picked up the script lying next to Jack's body. "Go ahead. Page 17, starting from the top of the page."

The next thirty seconds were never to be spoken of again. Fernando was the worst one, which was saying something. In order to avoid traumatizing anyone, details on what happened were strongly suggested to be kept secret, leaving the audience imagining what exactly happened.

_He sucks, _lay on the twins and Anton's minds by the time Fernando was done.

"So?" Fernando pried expectantly. "How was it?"

Jack still hadn't moved from his fetal position on the floor, so one would assume he had not been listening to Fernando's performance. However, he really was, as he was the first one to speak. "Jack Frost is a self-proclaimed little shit who does not act like that at all. You know what that means?"

"What?" Anton asked.

Jack finally uncovered his face and got up off the floor. "Fuck this shit. I can't take this anymore. I'm leaving. You take care of the last guy auditioning." He went over to the door and left.

"So...does that mean I don't get the part?" Fernando rubbed his left arm awkwardly.

Zander got up and ushered Fernando out the room. "We'll see soon enough. If you do, rejoice. If you don't, don't rejoice. It's that simple."

"But do I—" Fernando was cut off when Zander closed the door in his face.

"He's not getting the part," Zander deadpanned. "Unless if we want to further infuriate Jack. And Jack's one of those people who you _really_ don't want to provoke."

"Have you experienced a really angry Jack before?" Spencer asked his brother.

"I have not. But I can just tell."

"Should we just cast Jack as Jack Frost?" Anton suggested. "He obviously understands the part much more than any of us combined."

"But he can't," Spencer objected. "McCarthy says that if you're a host, then you can't have any part in the play."

"Crap, you're right," Anton muttered. He looked up at Zander. "Maybe you could?"

Zander stared at him and pointed at himself. "Who, me?"

"Yes, you."

"Are you crazy?! I don't get the Jack Frost role anymore than anyone else does! Why me?"

"After listening to all of Jack's angry rants when going through all those people wanting to play Jack Frost, I think you kinda have at least a vague idea on how to make this right," Anton insisted.

"How about him?" Zander pointed at Spencer.

Spencer flashed a look of betrayal at him. "Are you throwing me under the bus?"

"Nope, I think you would suit Jack Frost better than him," Anton waved Spencer off. "Jack Frost is a fun-loving hellion. How should I put it... You're more fun-loving and...hellionish? Spencer is a little uptight."

"I can't tell if you're insulting me or just pointing out one of my personality characteristics," Spencer remarked.

"Me neither, except for your description of me," Zander agreed. "Fine, I'll play Jack. Unless if some kind of miracle happens and this last guy is like a professional." He opened the door again to let the last person in.

Jill Underhill waved. "Hi!" she giggled girlishly.

"Goodbye," Zander said back flatly and slammed the door. He turned back to the other two. "It's official. I'm playing Jack."

"Who was that girl and why does she look so much like a female, ditzy version of Jack?" Anton inquired, utterly perplexed.

"The real question is why is she here?!" Zander shouted. "She's not even a student here!"

"Ah, that may have something to do with the giant posters I put up at the front of the school this morning," Spencer confessed sheepishly.

"Bro... YOU FREAKIN SUCK."

* * *

"Stupid math test..." Jack muttered while storming down the hallway.

It was Tuesday, and it was lunchtime. Jack had been held up in the classroom finishing a geometry test he had completely forgotten he was going to have. As if that wasn't enough to irk him, Cody still wasn't at school. _At this rate, Cici's chocolates aren't going to be fresh anymore, _Jack thought quite bitterly.

He ought to head on over to the cafeteria and join Zander and Spencer. When he met them earlier in the morning, he had forgotten to ask them who they ended up casting for the play. He was too busy imagining the worst and ended up bumping into someone.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry—"

"No, it's okay—" The boy Jack had collided into did a double take and began staring with wide eyes. "Jack Overland?"

"Um... Yeah," Jack affirmed rather uncomfortably. "Do I know you?"

The other guy shook his head. "Oh right, sorry. My name's Erik. Erik Chou."

It was Jack's turn to stare. "Wh-Wha...? Erik as in..." God, the atmosphere just dropped down to an awkward level.

Erik rubbed the back of his own head, a little sheepishly in Jack's eyes. "Right... So you remember that stuff in the newspaper and all that..."

Jack could only nod weakly. "It wasn't you, was it?" he asked, once he found his voice again.

Erik shook his head. "No."

"It was Samson Fisher, wasn't it?"

Erik blinked, mildly surprised at how Jack seemed to know about this stuff. "I'm sure it was him. How do you—"

"—know this?" Jack finished his question. "I can figure stuff out on my own."

Erik nodded approvingly, feeling relief wash over him when he heard Jack say this. "So...you don't hate me or anything? Good. I promised myself that I would apologize the next time I saw you. But it seems like there's no need for that. By the way, when Cody comes back to school, could you tell him that it wasn't me who wrote that thing about the two of you?"

"Sure, I can do that." Jack paused, soaking Erik's words in. "Do you know why Cody isn't at school?"

Erik looked at him, visible surprise on his face, much to Jack's confusion. "You don't know what happened to him?"

Jack shook his head no. "Does everyone know?"

"Yeah, it's huge and it spread like wildfire yesterday. Even the freshmen know what happened."

"What happened?" Jack let go of all vows to stay away from school gossip. Something had happened to Cody, and he felt like he needed to know this.

"You know how Cody is a little...mentally wounded from all the rumors about him?"

"Yeah..." Jack didn't know what Erik was going on about, but he knew he didn't like what this was leading up to.

"I guess that newspaper article was the last straw for him. He finally reached his breaking point. Jack, over the weekend... Cody tried to kill himself and is now in the hospital.

This news struck Jack like lightning. He was struck speechless and was unable to move any part of his body.

Erik rubbed his arm. "It's a good thing he didn't succeed. But it's really what most people seem to be talking about now."

Jack was no longer listening. Cody...attempted suicide? He knew he was a little emo and more than a little testy, but he never expected him to never try a feat like that. Suicide... Jack hated suicide. He lived for more than 300 years and he had to admit to himself that he had considered killing himself more than a couple times when he was first discovered to be invisible. He had tried to starve himself, fall from a tall tree, and even overheat himself by going near the equator in the summer. Obviously, none of that worked, considering that one of the only things he couldn't do was die. However, after 50 years or so of being emotionally unstable (even more so than Cody), he had just given up and decided to see where life would lead him. And things had gotten better. And Cody's life would get better, as long as he didn't attempt to assassinate himself a second time.

"Um, hello?" Erik snapped his fingers in front of Jack's eyes. "You still on earth?"

Jack snapped out of his daze. "Uh... Yeah. Thanks, Erik, for the info."

He hurriedly walked off, not looking back. Once he reached his locker, he immediately hit his head against the hard metal before slowly twisting his locker combo while staring off into space. He just couldn't bear with Cody hating himself enough to try to end his own life. Why? Because Cody was Jack's friend, and he wouldn't have it any other way. Cody was snappish, but Jack did not care. Cody was an outcast, but Jack did not care. Cody was a target of ridicule, but Jack did not care. If Cody never had friends, whether as a teenager or child, Jack would fix that by being the first to break down those icy walls. But Jack hated himself right now, for he only realized this when Cody had already done the worst that could possibly be done: attempt suicide. He may have survived, but it still wasn't something that could be excused. If only Samson hadn't—

Samson. Just thinking this name made Jack's blood boil with rage. It was his fault that Cody was in the hospital. Sure, nobody did anything to prevent him from doing what he did, but Samson was the predominant cause of it all.

Something snapped inside of Jack, and it was the complete opposite of anything good. He was more furious than he had been in a long time. He remembered feeling this way when Sandy had been temporarily eliminated from the battle with Pitch. He could barely hear Baby Tooth, who had been unusually quiet lately, chirping at him in concern, trying to bring him back down from space.

He, who had just begun opening his locker, slammed it shut again, its metal resounding across the hallway loudly, showing off the anger and force Jack had taken out on his poor locker. He trudged, almost breaking out into a sprint, into the cafeteria just down the hall. He scanned the room for Samson, and his eyes darkened once he did so. The bastard was eating some sort of cheeseburger, and Anton was sitting across from him. During any other time, Jack would've wondered why Anton was still with Samson, but right now, he simply didn't care. He stalked over to them and slammed his hands down—_hard_—on the table.

"FISHER!"

This echoed across the entire cafeteria, and everyone else in the room quieted. In the background, Zander and Spencer exchanged horrified looks. Anton had a similar expression on his face.

Samson gave Jack a WTF face. "...Yeah? Whaddaya want?"

"You know what I want," Jack growled. "Come on, fess up. I know you were the one who did it."

Samson scoffed. "Did what? Your mother?"

"I'm fricking talking about you ruining Cody's life!" Jack yelled. "Who the hell gave you permission to do that?!"

"Who the hell gave you permission to become involved in his life?" Samson retorted. "You were sticking your damn head somewhere where it doesn't belong, so why do you even care?"

"I care because he doesn't deserve to be beaten down, unlike you," Jack spoke through gritted teeth. "You're the one who needs to get a hold of yourself and stop this drama."

Samson banged his hands down on the lunch table and stood up. "And why are you blaming only me? Why not Anton?"

Jack looked over at Anton. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Anton here was the one spying on you and Cody and told me what you were doing," Samson said smugly. "Come on, if you're gonna start shouting at me, at least be aware of who else had a part in it."

Shocked, Jack stared at Anton. "Is... Is that true?"

Anton also stood up. "I wanted to tell you, but I never got the chance to! I didn't want to do it and I'm so—"

Samson cut him off. "But he did it anyway. My point is that I don't see you mad at _him_."

As if Jack wasn't enraged enough, this was what truly set him off. First off, he found out that Cody was in the hospital from a failed suicide attempt. Now, he found out that Anton was partially the cause of it all. But Jack couldn't tell for sure if he was mad at Anton or not. He seemed genuinely regretful of what he had done, and Jack understood that Samson could be a pretty controlling friend. But he had still done it. And Jack felt conflicted over that. But that conflict was overshadowed by fury once more.

Jack screeched and tackled Samson to the ground.

"Holy _shit_!" Anton shouted and moved a safe distance away from the tussle. "Someone do something! Where the hell are the teachers on lunch duty?!"

As if on cue, the said teachers were now hurrying over to the fight, and were doing their best to separate Jack and Samson from each other's throats, to no avail. Samson was now firmly pinning Jack down on the lunchroom floor, and the latter retaliated by kneeing him right in the stomach.

"Holy crap, dude!" Zander suddenly appeared next to Anton.

"This is getting _way _out of hand!" Spencer popped up next to his brother.

"Spencer... If I don't make it out of this, please finish that English report due tomorrow and turn it in for me. I need to at least have my grade raised up by the time I die. If Mom sees the current C+ I have, she'll kill me a second time at my funeral," Zander said.

Spencer simply looked at his brother in confusion. "Wait, what?"

"I'm going in." Zander let out a battle cry and ran into the fight, which was escalating in violence by the minute. He tried to pry Jack off of Samson, resulting in his friend absentmindedly kicking him in the face.

Zander winced. "Ow!" He rubbed his already-swelling eye. "Now that's what I call a black eye."

"You okay?" Spencer asked.

Zander nodded. "Totally." He then rushed back into the physical altercation, ignoring his brother's protests. He eventually managed to grab a hold of Jack's waist and held on tightly. He took Jack, all in his thrashing glory, away and out of the cafeteria, followed by Spencer. Anton probably would have went after them if Samson didn't grab him by the shoulder and drag him away.

"Let go of me!" Jack screamed, not giving up on trying to rush back in and continue knocking the lights out of Samson. However, when he was flailing, his left arm was noticeably not moving as violently as his right.

Zander, having absolutely enough, threw Jack roughly onto the floor and crossed his arms.

After rubbing his sore bottom and getting up, Jack blinked and came back down from Insanity World. "Oh... Uh, hi."

"Yeah. Hi," Zander answered crossly. "What the hell was that about?"

Jack looked away. "You know full on well what that was about."

"Yeah, but none of us really expected you guys to end up duking it out on each other _physically_," Spencer argued, peeking over from behind Zander's shoulder.

"I couldn't help myself," Jack defended. "You guys would probably do the same if you were me. It was completely justified."

Zander rolled his eyes. "Justified my butt."

"Hey, don't act like you're not at fault here at all! Why didn't you tell me Cody tried suicide?"

"Because we were afraid you wouldn't take the news well, which you really didn't," Zander deadpanned.

"But still, I probably would've taken it better if I heard it from one of you than from the guy who was framed by Samson," Jack muttered.

"You met with Erik?" Spencer asked. "When?"

"Like right before I stormed into the cafeteria," Jack stated that as if it was the most obvious fact in the universe. He looked at Zander's face. "And where'd you get that bruise on your eye?"

Zander glared at him hard. "Ask that again and I'll give _you _a black eye."

"Hey, I already got one over winter break," Jack protested, rubbing his sore left arm. "That's really low."

"Jack, it's February 5th," Zander pointed out. "Your black eye healed about a month ago."

"...So? I don't want a black eye anymore," Jack mumbled. He began to catch on to what Zander was implying with the mysterious cause of his facial bruise.

Suddenly feeling the atmosphere in the hallway grow extremely awkward, Spencer commented, "You know, Anton was the most surprised out of all of us when you ended up tackling Samson to the floor. It may or may not have something to do with how he was standing the closest to you guys."

Jack looked at him. "I know. I may not remember what I was exactly doing when I was fighting Samson, but I do remember him yelling out a few curses when I first slipped into battle mode."

"First slipped into battle mode..." Spencer snickered. "That's an amusing way to put it."

"Whatever." Jack rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I'm going." He began walking off.

"Where?" Zander called out after him.

"The school office!" Jack shouted back. "I need to get my arm patched up because I swear I heard a joint pop when I was fighting and now it's sore! And I need to clear some stuff up with the vice principal!" He rounded the corner, but then poked his head out again a second later. "Oh yeah, and, uh, sorry about the eye."

* * *

Samson was angry, though not to Jack's extent. However, he still gripped tightly on Anton's arm as he dragged him down the hallway.

"—and who the hell does that bastard think he is?! He beat on me, so I beat on him! It's that simple!" he rambled. "He thinks he can treat me like that piece of suicidal trash he shared chocolates with?!"

"Well, Cody was his friend," Anton said quietly.

"What was that? Whatever, I don't care." Samson turned to Anton. "You think you can do me one more favor involving Overland?"

"...What." Anton's tone sounded as flat as a desert. What could Samson possibly want now?

"Would you mind continuing to be my little dirt catcher for Overland?" Samson smirked. "It's not like last week's paper was the last issue." He expected Anton to submit to his wishes like usual, so he was completely caught off guard with what happened next.

"No," Anton simply said. There was no hesitation in his voice. "I'm done with that job."

"...What?" Samson asked again in order to make sure he heard right.

"I said I'm done," Anton reiterated. "I'm not doing this anymore."

"What the hell? What are you talking about?" Samson grew annoyed. This wasn't the Anton he usually hung out with.

"I'm talking about being done with involvement in the newspaper. Hell, I'm not just talking about that. I'm pretty much done with this entire friendship we have. You know what? He was doing something right when he tackled you to the floor, and he was definitely doing something right when he punched you that day you met him," Anton finally let Samson know how he truly felt. "And Jack didn't deserve to be gossiped about or have one of his friends in the hospital."

"Uh, since when did you start calling him Jack?" Samson questioned, growing more and more agitated. "And I thought you hated Cody."

"Well at least I know I'm going too far if I'm part of the cause that led to him landing in the need of medical attention," Anton shot back. "And I started calling him that once I realized that he's a better friend than you'll ever be." His voice raised slightly. "Don't you even realize what you did back there?! You totally threw me under the bus! Jack was yelling at you and you let out the fact that I was part of it!"

Samson scoffed. "I only spoke what was true."

"It may have been true, but you could've at least kept your damn mouth shut about it!" Anton exclaimed. "You just blurted that out without even thinking how I would feel! Now I can't even tell if Jack hates me or not!"

"And you care about what Overland thinks of you now because...?" Samson raised an eyebrow.

"Because I want to be his friend!" Anton yelled. "And now that chance is likely ruined because of you! I can't believe I stayed friends with you for this long! Well guess what?" He chuckled dryly. "Not anymore. We're officially done, _Fisher_."

He began walking off in the direction he and Samson came from, but stopped in his tracks when he heard the other boy remark dangerously, "You know you can't just come and go as you please, right? You'll end up paying if you just leave now."

Anton turned his head back towards Samson, and said coolly, "Then so be it. See ya, Samson." And then he was gone.

* * *

"It seems fine to me," the school nurse said as she examined Jack's sore arm. "Whatever you heard pop must've been unimportant. Though I would advise you to go easy on this arm for the next couple of days, just to ease the pain you might possibly feel."

"Thanks, Miss Ivy." Jack, sitting on a cot, slightly winced as he rubbed his bad arm. "Oh shoot, I don't even remember how this happened."

"Hey." Mr. Suzuki appeared in the doorway. "You wanted to see me?"

"I know you know what happened," Jack immediately stated. "Can we talk in private?"

Mr. Suzuki nodded and motioned for Jack to follow him. Jack got up off the cot and proceeded to head off to the vice principal's office. Once they were both there, Mr. Suzuki closed the door slightly, but not completely. "You seem to have gotten several minor injuries," he commented. "Your arm and that little cut above your eyebrow."

Jack fingered the newly placed bandaid that was located right above his right eyebrow. "I really don't remember how I got this. I can barely even remember what I was thinking."

Mr. Suzuki sat down at his desk. "So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Whether I'm in trouble or not," Jack delivered this information bluntly. "I mean, I most likely am, since I went into the lunchroom and almost right away knocked Samson Fisher to the tile floor thereafter. So what is it? Detention? Or even suspension?"

Mr, Suzuki stared at him for a moment then sighed. "You're the first student I've ever met who would be willing to face their punishment head on."

"I'm aware I'm special," was Jack's terse reply.

The door suddenly swung open again and Anton stepped in. "Hey, Dad."

"Anton, can't you see I'm busy?" Mr. Suzuki motioned towards Jack.

Simply ignoring that question, Anton simply said, "Don't punish him. Just let him go."

Jack blinked. "What?"

"Anton—"

"Come on, please?" Anton pleaded. "He really didn't do anything wrong. He had his own reasons for his actions. And I know you don't like Samson any more than the rest of us."

"Son, I can't just let my own personal opinions of the students here influence my job—"

"Dad, please, just this once." Anton's desperation was beginning to show through. "It's just this one time, and I doubt it would hurt anyone. As far as anyone knows, Mr. Kaka isn't competent enough to even rat about this to the school district or whoever is his boss. That is, if Mr. Kaka even will find out about this at all." He paused. "And honestly, if there's anyone who needs to be in trouble for this, it's me. If I was able to stand up for myself in the first place, Cody wouldn't even be in the hospital right now."

Mr. Suzuki sighed and covered his face with his hands. He stayed like that for a while, but then finally muttered, "I'll think about letting him off the hook."

"Great! Thanks Dad, you're the best guy ever." He grabbed Jack's hand and pulled him out of his seat. "Come on, let's go."

Once they were out of the office and back out in the hallway (before Anton's dad could change his mind), Jack piped up, "You know he just said he'll think about it, right? There's no guarantee behind those words."

"And you do realize that that's my dad's way of agreeing to something, right?" Anton smirked for a mere second, but then his expression became sober again. "Seriously though, sorry about what happened. For Cody too. Are you mad at me?"

Jack scoffed, then grinned. "What? Dude, no way. You just convinced your dad to let me off the hook. How can I be mad at you after that?"

Anton blinked twice. "So... You're not mad? Even though I kinda...you know. I was really expecting you to hit me or something."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Please. Seriously, I'm not mad at you. I'm not even upset anymore... Okay, I am a little. But not at you."

Anton nodded. "Good." Feeling an awkward silence ensuing, he added, "I split up with Samson, by the way. Finally."

Jack's grin grew. "That's great! You could hang out with me and Zander and Spencer now!"

Anton simply stared. "You're acting like some kind of little kid who just got a giant lollipop for his birthday."

Jack flushed embarrassedly and coughed. "Right. Sorry about that."

Anton shook his head. "No, it's perfectly fine."

More awkward silence.

"You're very awkward to be around," Jack voiced his thoughts.

Anton sputtered, red tinting his cheeks. "It's not me, it's our relationship. We didn't exactly start off too smoothly with each other, remember? And now we mutually decide to officially start off being friends. It's only natural if this seems awkward."

"True," Jack agreed. "But just wait until Cody joins us."

"...Cody's joining us?" Anton cursed himself for sounding ridiculously dumb.

Jack gave him an unimpressed look. "Did you really think I'm giving up on him? Yeah, right, that's the last thing I'm gonna be doing. I'll try talking to him at the hospital sometime. See where that leads to."

"Aw, come on!" Anton whined. "Awkwardness would increase tenfold if that happens."

"So?" Jack wasn't caving in. "You two should just give each other a chance. I'm sure you can become friends, even though you might not exactly get along all the time. Besides, don't think I've forgotten about what you said how you two have nothing in common, 'cause I haven't. I actually think you're just like each other, but you don't know that."

"Oh, really?" Anton crossed his arms. "Name one way we're like each other. Just one is fine, in case you're gonna start listing a whole bunch of ways."

"Well the biggest reason is that you're both lonely," Jack supplied. "Cody's the outcast, while you're the guy who was a mean guy's slave up until now. Both of you don't know how to make true friends."

"Is that an insult?" Anton questioned.

"Only if you take it to be one. Anyway," Jack continued, "I know you said to just name one way, but I can't help myself. The second one is that I consider both of you my friends now. Maybe I won't live up to your expectations of what a real friend should be like, but this is something I'll try my best on. And hopefully, I'll show both of you what it's like to have someone by your side."

* * *

It all started when Jack passed by the Burgess cemetery. And for the second time on the same day, something overtook Jack. It wasn't fury like last time, but it was more like bittersweetness. The next thing he knew, he had bought a bouquet of lilies from the nearby floral shop and had successfully found the grave he was looking for. He was now sitting cross-legged in front of the tombstone.

"I'm sorry I haven't visited at all lately. It really has been way too long, hasn't it?"

No answer was given. Not that he expected one at all.

"Really, I'm sorry. I've just had way too much on my mind these days. Being turned human was bad enough, but now I'm stuck in a predicament involving one of my friends. You can understand that, right?"

The wind blew softly, lending an answer in place of the grave.

Jack smiled softly. "I knew you would. Hey, if any of your friends, like Stephen or Marianne, tried and failed to commit suicide, what would you do to cheer them up? Would you go see them, or would you just leave them be for the time being so they could have a chance to collect their thoughts?"

Silence.

Jack sighed. "You're right. This is something I have to decide, not you. I have to make my own choices. Although..." He gingerly touched his sore arm. "You can probably tell that I got caught in a really bad fistfight today. Maybe you even saw it from up there in heaven. Anyway, this visit isn't just all about me. What about you? Anything new?"

Still silence.

"So everything's stayed the same? Same as usual? I totally get that. Being buried six feet under isn't exactly the most eventful situation, is it?" He took the lilies and laid them on the ground in front of him. "I brought you lilies again. Or are they not your favorite type of flower anymore?"

And there was the reassuring gentleness of the wind again.

Jack chuckled and stood up from his position. "Good. Sorry about the short visit this time. I promise to come back soon and stay longer. My schedule is just way too tight nowadays. Bye, Pip."

As he turned to go, something caught his eye. He didn't know what it was exactly, but he knew that his curiosity was piqued enough for him to go investigate (He swore that one day his curiosity would be the death of him). He looked in the direction where he thought he saw something, but then realized that it was just another gravestone. Shaking his head at himself for getting all worked up for another grave, he muttered to himself, "Jack, you're getting way too jumpy."

But... He had never seen that grave before. Maybe because of the tree looming over it. It provided excellent shade, so the gray stone would naturally blend in with the dark area. And for some really weird reason Jack couldn't explain, he felt compelled to go see whose it was. It seemed creepy, but Jack's gut feeling was not about to be ignored.

He approached the stone and stole a quick glance at the name carved into it.

_Carrie Gray _

_January 11, 1989 – October 24, 2005_

Oh, okay, so it was a girl named Carrie— _Wait._ Jack did a double take. _Carrie._ Wasn't that the name of Cody's mystery girl who was mentioned once and never brought up again? _Okay Jack... Calm yourself. Carrie isn't that much of a unique name. There are tons of people in this world named Carrie..._

But it was Carrie's last name that prevented him from fully dismissing this discovery. Cody's last name was Gray, wasn't it? So if this wasn't just some kind of really bizarre coincidence, then that would basically mean that Carrie was Cody's...

Jack looked back at his own sister's grave. "Sister..."

**Number of words: 6,514. Now thank me.**

**So this was the dark chapter I was talking about. Okay, so maybe it's not that dark. Dark is the wrong word for it. It's more like an emotional rollercoaster of a chapter. And that's why I enjoyed writing this one so much. The first half possesses the usual comedy I put into this story, but then things just turn bad when it's revealed what happened to Cody. And then Jack goes up and then goes down and then goes up and then down**

**And Rise of the Spies is currently winning on my poll.**

**Not too many replies this time... See, you guys got a long chapter and a short author's note. Ya got lucky.**

**PuppetMaster55: Choose Possessed. Parental Care is going strong, but Possessed only has one vote so far, which depresses me. And yeah, the whole Jack-forgetting-thing contributes to the sequel. Yeah. Jamie's a sucker :P**

**CGryffindorGrimm: YOU. I DON'T SEE A POLE-DANCING PICTURE FROM YOU D:**

**Lovepuppy316: Well it would only make sense if she thinks curses are like cavities, right? And Bunny will be some...minor OC, I suppose. It was supposed to be Zander, but he's already playing Jack. **

**YandereGoddess: ...YIKES, that sounds scary. Well, hope you feel better soon! And you'll see what's up with Cici soon enough ;P **


	27. In Which Jack Gets the 411 On Carrie

**Unnecessary fun fact nobody needs to know: Cody was originally supposed to die in the planning stages, but I decided to let him live since I liked him too much.**

**Unnecessary fun fact nobody needs to know: Jack was originally supposed to storm into Samson's classroom instead of into the cafeteria.**

**Unnecessary fun fact nobody needs to know: I like imagining Jack in drag. (Stop looking at your computer screen like that I told you this was an unnecessary fun fact)**

_"-You're a little bitch who needs to run and get hit by a bus-"_

_"-Why don't you go say that to a mirror because I-"_

Jack stared at Zander's laptop screen intently. "How long is this video again?"

"The actual fight is a couple of hours long, but this is only like fifteen minutes of it. You know, YouTube regulations," Zander replied.

"And honestly, I don't see why this video has so many views," Spencer spoke up. "It's just them shooting insults back and forth at each other. Nothing special."

"Please, these insults are just way too entertaining to be ignored," Zander argued.

"What insults are just way too entertaining to be ignored?" Anton came over and sat down at the lunch table with his tray. He peered over Jack's shoulder. "What video is that?"

"Something on YouTube," Jack stated absentmindedly.

Anton got a closer look. "...Is that me and Cody?"

"Mmhm." Jack's eyes were still fixated on the screen.

Anton, not amused one bit, took the laptop lid and slammed it shut, forbidding Jack from watching anymore.

"Hey!" Jack shouted. "I was watching that!"

"Oh right, I'm sorry," Anton said with an innocent smile. "I probably should've waited until you put your fingertips on the laptop edge so they would've been crushed underneath. You're right, I should've done that."

Jack stared at him for a second, before saying, "I'm starting to see how you and Samson were friends for so long."

Anton shrugged. "Being around him had its perks. You can't expect me to just leave him without picking anything up from him. So who put that video of me and Cody arguing online?"

"Dunno. Why do you ask? Are you going to kill them?" Zander asked.

"More like Cody will kill them if he ever sees this. I'm personally cool with it, but I doubt he will be," Anton pointed out.

"Speaking of Cody, have you visited him at the hospital?" Spencer turned to Jack.

"No," Jack sighed. "I went there, but the lady at the desk told me that his family wanted to be the only ones able to visit him for the first couple of days. Can't really blame them though. They clearly still need to grasp their head around the fact that Cody tried suicide. Maybe I'll try after school tomorrow. Tomorrow's Friday anyway, so I think that'll be best."

"Good idea." Spencer nodded in agreement. "It's best to leave them be for a while. How long do you think he'll be staying there?"

"Probably will be released sometime over the weekend," Zander predicted. "I'm pretty sure that's more than enough time to care for a teenage boy who cut himself."

"You know, I'm actually really glad his suicide failed," Jack admitted. "Not just because he's my friend, but also because I think his parents would be able to bear losing a second child."

Silence fell over the rest of the group, soaking this news in.

Anton finally piped up, "Second child? You mean Cody has a deceased sibling?" He paused, trying to comprehend this. "Can't picture it."

"I was at the graveyard Tuesday afternoon. And guess what? I found Carrie's tombstone." Jack grinned despite the situation. "Guys, she's not Cody's crush or anything. She's his sister. His older sister."

"Oh." Spencer blinked. "Well that makes sense. A lot more sense than the theory of her being his girlfriend."

"Who's Carrie?" Anton asked, confused.

"We'll explain later. What I want to know is," Zander pointed at Jack accusingly. "What were you doing at the cemetery?"

Jack sputtered. "N-None of your business! I can't visit a deceased distant relative?" Which was the truth, except that his sister wasn't that distant to him, not counting his 300 years of amnesia.

Zander shrugged. "Hey, just asking."

"Whoa, whoa, wait. You guys actually _thought_ Cody had a girlfriend in the past?" Anton looked at all of them as if they were insane. "Yeah, right. The day that happens is the day I turn out to be bisexual."

"It would be hilarious if you end up jinxing that and you realize you're bisexual at the exact same time Cody ends up finding his soul mate," Zander remarked.

"Not my point here. I'm just saying, you guys actually thought of the possibility that Carrie is his girlfriend and it never occurred to you that she was possibly his sister?"

In unison, Zander and Spencer pointed at Jack.

"He was the one who thought that," Zander said.

Spencer chimed in, "Uh huh, we were just going along with what he was saying."

"Nice to know you guys like making sure I get the credit for everything," Jack muttered.

"Really, Jack?" Anton deadpanned. "Let me tell you something, I've never seen Cody Gray talk to a girl _once. _Screw that, I haven't seen him talk to anyone except me, you, or Samson. So he's not about to take a date to the dance next week, if that's what you're thinking."

"The Valentine's Day dance next week?" Spencer assumed. "Do you think he'll go even though he won't have a date?"

"Most likely not," Zander said. "On the other hand, you can go with Cici."

Spencer's face flushed and he glared at his brother. "Zander!"

Zander shrugged nonchalantly. "What? Just go with her. You won't regret it."

Spencer looked down at his lunch and began fiddling nervously with his fingers. "I don't know how to ask her..."

"Cici Sanders? You like her?" Anton questioned.

Spencer glared halfheartedly at him. "Look, I'm fine with you knowing that as long as you don't go spreading the word..."

Anton raised his hands in defense. "Hey, just making sure." He turned to Jack. "What about you? Are you going with anyone?"

Jack scoffed and shook his head. "Isn't it obvious what the answer to that is? No. In fact, I don't even feel like going. I'm probably just gonna stay home, take a nap, do homework, whatever."

"You sure about that?" Anton asked skeptically. "There's obviously going to be at least one ditz who crawls up to you begging you to go to the dance with her. Actually, screw that, not just one girl. More like twelve hundred."

"I'll just reject them as gently as possible by saying I wasn't planning on going to the dance at all," Jack waved it off in a carefree manner. "They're bound to understand."

"...No. No, they're not," Anton stated. "Trust me, I know how girls think, especially the kind that are easily attracted to some cute guy at school. No matter how nice you are to them when you say no to their offer, they won't take it well. Some will run home crying, some will call you a big jerk and storm off, and some will just..." Anton finished his explanation with a slit throat gesture. "Let's just say you'll end up with at least a couple of red marks on your cheek."

"Seriously, what's up with the females?" Zander complained. "When we guys get rejected by girls, the worst we could react is become annoyed. Girls are so dramatic."

Jack seemed to think back on something. "I once got slapped by Jamie's grandma because I walked into the bathroom while she was in the shower..." Seeing the odd looks his friends were giving him, he added defensively, "I didn't know she was in there!" before continuing, "So I'm pretty sure I can handle teenage girls. I'm not going unless it's absolutely necessary. And it's not like I can help the way they'll react once I turn me down. Besides, even if I did get a date to the dance, how would I be able to handle the rest of the girls who wanted to ask me out?"

"They won't be raging on you as much if you tell them you already had someone to go with," Anton argued. "They'll be taking it all out on your date instead."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "And that makes the situation better how...?"

Anton shrugged. "They won't be yelling at you."

"But then my date would possibly go home with a broken limb!" Jack shouted. "I don't know much about girls, but I don't think it's a good idea to use her as a shield from my insane she-minions!"

Anton only shrugged again. "Suit yourself. Don't go then."

* * *

Jack tried to act casual by looking at the white walls of the waiting room. There wasn't much to look at, really. Just a couple of award plaques for being one of those things Jack was sure he didn't care to know, though he admitted to himself that getting a plaque like that was certainly impressive, no matter what it was for.

He snapped out of his thoughts as he saw someone walk out of the door that led to the individual hospital rooms. It took a minute for him to recognize her. When he did, he stood up. "Hi, Mrs. Gray."

Cody's mother looked at him under scrutiny for a moment before remembering him. "Oh, hello. You're...Jack, aren't you?"

Jack nodded. "How's your son?"

Mrs. Gray sighed softly. "He's doing fine recovering. Physically, that is. But mentally, he's still very shaken up."

"I'm really sorry," Jack apologized.

Mrs. Gray shook her head dismissively. "Don't be sorry. It had nothing to do with you. Cody's just been...so closed up, he was bullied frequently for years. I'm just afraid that'll happen again." Her voice wavered at that last sentence.

"It won't happen again," Jack reassured her gently yet firmly. "I'll make sure of that."

"But if I didn't know this would happen, how would you?" Mrs. Gray looked at him hopelessly, like a lost child instead of a distraught mother. "This was so unexpected—I don't think I can bear the mere thought of almost losing him again."

"Some stuff happened at school last week," Jack began. "That's what caused him to go off the deep end. I would be lying if I said it didn't involve me. I may not have been the perpetrator, but when I first found out what had happened, I carried around the guilt of not doing anything sooner. And even now, I still feel that way. That's why I'm vowing that I'll do anything I can, now that Cody has a second chance. I promise that I won't let him pull a stunt like this again."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Baby Tooth give him an incredulous look, as if not expecting him to be so mature, calm, and comforting. Especially towards a parent.

"And furthermore," he continued, "I don't want you to experience the pain of losing a child again. It must've hurt, didn't it? Eight years ago when your daughter..." He trailed off. _What am I saying? What the hell, Jack?_ All of that at the end was completely involuntary and on impulse. The last thing he wanted was to rub salt into Cody's mother's wound.

She looked at him in surprise. "You know..."

Jack rubbed his arm sheepishly. "Kinda. I mean, I only know the basics of what happened. I mean, I know who she was, but...yeah. Remember when we first met and you mentioned her?"

Mrs. Gray's eyes widened, as if only realizing it now. "Oh right! I remember now. I didn't mean for that to slip out, it just did—I didn't think it through and I just blurted it out..."

Jack held his hands up. "No, it's...it's fine..."

"I owe you an explanation on who she was, don't I?" Mrs. Gray asked suddenly. "It was rude of me to leave you hanging like that, when that was probably the first time you ever heard the mention of Carrie."

Jack hesitated. "I...don't want to bring up bad memories just because I'm curious..."

Mrs. Gray shook her head and sat down, motioning for Jack to follow suit. "It doesn't matter. You seem to already have a vague idea on who she was, and it would only be fair if you learned the truth on what happened."

Jack reluctantly consented and seated himself on the chair again.

"It all started, like you said, eight years ago," Cody's mother started. "My son was only ten back then. Carrie was sixteen. They were very close, closer than any other pair of siblings I've seen in my entire life. Both my husband and I work, so they usually only talked with each other at home. And Carrie was the typical teenage girl; her confidence was fragile, and she liked a boy at her school."

So far, Jack only nodded, listening intently.

"He was a boy one year her senior," she continued, "and he was one of those popular, handsome boys who was extremely full of himself. Carrie spent years keeping her crush secret, as she just couldn't summon up the courage to pour her heart out. As a result, she always stood by her locker quietly while she watched other girls flirt with her crush. But then one day, she somehow got over her shyness—I'm not sure if her friends persuaded her or if she just felt like she should let it all out—and confessed. He rejected her. He didn't give her an excuse or anything; it was a flat out 'no.' He wasn't being very kind about it either, as he began listing off the qualities he was looking for in a girl and how she was the complete opposite of them. She came home crying that day, and I remember her asking me why she couldn't be beautiful like all the other girls at her school. That was the last time she ever spoke to me. She had gone right up to her bedroom and hanged herself with her father's tie."

By this point, Mrs. Gray was beginning to shed tears. Jack, on the other hand, didn't know what to say. He opened his mouth to say comforting words to the distressed mother, but nothing would come out. He eventually settled for awkwardly patting her on the shoulder and rubbing soothing circles on the middle of her back. No conversation was exchanged.

Once Mrs. Gray had calmed down, she sniffed and reached for a tissue from the tissue box on the mini-table beside her. Once she was done blowing her nose, she said, "I'm really sorry you have to see me like this—"

"It's fine," Jack interrupted. "You may have lost her years ago, but the hurt hasn't ceased. And I get that. I've had...experience with these kind of things." _Except that I was the one who died. _He could vaguely recall seeing his sister centuries ago looking at the lake he had fell into with a sad expression on her face. He may not have known it was her back then, but he had still felt the pain poking at his heart when he saw the grief that was in those eyes. "Can I go in and talk to him?"

Mrs. Gray nodded, wiping her tears away. "Go ahead."

...

He found him propped up against his pillows and flipping through the channels with the remote in his hand, a bored expression fixated on his pale face. He only momentarily glanced at Jack before returning his attention to the TV.

"Hey," Jack mustered up a grin, although after what happened back on the waiting room, he couldn't manage to make the smile genuine.

"That smile is fake," Cody said simply.

Jack dropped the faux grin and sighed. "Fine. You caught me. How are you doing?"

Cody gave him a hard look. "Are you seriously asking me that?"

Jack shrugged. "At least I was polite enough to ask. So judging from that answer, not too well."

"What do you want?"

"I wanted to talk," Jack replied nonchalantly. "Whether you like it or not."

Cody groaned. "About what?"

"Gee, I don't know." Jack couldn't blame himself for sneaking in some sarcasm. "Tons of stuff. About what happened would be a safe bet."

Cody scoffed. "What's there to talk about for that? I just did what I did. That's it. Nothing else."

"Everything happens for a reason," Jack persisted. "And I think I have an idea on what happened on this. You miss her, don't you? Your sister."

Cody stiffened. "How do you know about that?"

"I have my ways," Jack answered cryptically. "It's what happens if someone refuses to tell me something when I ask them."

Cody narrowed his eyes at him. "Look, if you're just gonna rub it in my face that I have a dead sibling—"

"I know how you feel."

"...What?"

"I've lost important people in my life before," Jack admitted. "Not in the way you lost your sister, but that's not the point here. I'm just trying to say is, you don't have to deal with this alone. I'm here to help."

"Oh really?" Cody remarked caustically, switching off the television. "Like you've ever tried to do what I did. There's no way you could ever feel the way I feel."

Jack didn't say or do anything at first, but then he suddenly rolled up his right sleeve and held out his arm for Cody to see. The latter immediately noticed what Jack was trying to show him, and remained silent. All across Jack's forearm were small scars that were undoubtedly similar to Cody's own scratches.

"What happened?" Cody finally asked.

Jack sighed and pulled his sleeve down again. "I know I seem like a perfect guy to you and everyone else. But the truth is, I'm not. I've gone through the most terrible things anyone could ever go through. I was a lonely kid, and I hated myself for being pretty much unnoticeable. And I'll admit I've done some pretty rash stuff to get attention. In short, I was an attention-seeking bastard. But then I somehow managed to get over it. It still hurt, but it was just enough for me to move on. And eventually, things got better. I'm still a little lonely deep down, but I know that'll continue to change. And things will be the same for you, as long as you believe that your life is too important to throw away. Things will be better for you, no matter how impossible that seems."

After that long spiel, Cody was silent again. After a while of looking down at his bedsheets, he muttered, "I was the one who walked into her bedroom and saw her dead body hanging from the ceiling."

Okay, now that was a little traumatizing for an innocent ten-year-old boy. Jack masked his shock and smiled. "Tell you what, once you're out of the hospital, you and I can go together to visit her grave."

He felt the agreeing nod more than he saw it.

"But you do owe me one for coming over here," Jack decided to joke around in an attempt to raise the outcast's spirits. "Let's see, how about you do all my math homework for the rest of the semester?"

"Go fuck yourself," Cody answered bluntly.

Jack winced. _Ouch. _But he couldn't help but enlarge his smile. Somehow, he had a feeling that Cody was just playing along.

**So now that all the exciting stuff is over, my updating pace slowed down yet again and I produced this piece of...cow poop. I'm unapologetic about the length of this chapter though. You guys got an extra long one to be satisfied with last time, so I give you a chapter 3,500 words long this time, which still isn't that bad. So be grateful.**

**Seriously, why do you guys put up with me. I will admit I kinda rushed the ending of this thing.**

**But the Carrie thing isn't completely cleared up just yet. Cody still hasn't fully opened up to Jack (though he has mostly), and the following chapter includes he and Jack visiting Carrie's grave.**

**Faliara: It is now tied with Parental Care. But I'm just going to with Icy Universe (now called Winter Wonderland) first because my Facebook followers, including myself, really like that one.**

**Dude: I actually imagine Jack wearing the glasses Justin Timberlake used to wear.**

**GhostGirl58: Sure they will. I'm not leaving them hanging. It should be coming soon.**

**Lovepuppy316: Of course I remembered. WHAT PERSON WOULD I BE IF I FORGOT. She's older, actually, though you probably figured that out from the chapter. And no, he's playing Pitch XD**

**freedominafallenworld: Ah, I'm sorry, but none of that will happen D: I actually did consider that idea a long time ago, but I decided against it.**

**SeaTheShadows: FanFiction is either crappy or amazing. There's no in-between for some reason.**

**agirlgeek144: You'll see ;D**

**PuppetMaster55: ...Okay, so maybe it would've been best to allow multiple choice for my poll. Didn't really think that one through, but I can't really do anything about it now. And...could you be more specific what mysterious popping noise you're talking about? Too much stuff has happened in this story, that I occasionally forget. It's embarrassing since I'm the author, but yeah. ...oh crap, yeah the insurance plan. Um... Jack borrows glasses from somebody.**

**feathered moon wings: Yes, you can give me a hug. I like hugs. -hugs-**

**Maddie Seth: ...I can't even make Mac and Cheese. I utterly fail. FUNNYTASTIC. And it's totally fine if you reviewed late. I'm just glad you liked the chapter :D**

**Review again please! :D **


	28. In Which Jack Decides to Kill Zander

**Judging from the reviews, you guys seem to like the phrase 'cow poop.' Honestly, the only reason why I used those words is because at school on Thursday, I had a history test, and then my friend started asking me what questions there were, since she had the class right after lunch. I had to struggle a little bit to remember, and I ended up saying the S word when I couldn't think of anything, and she said, 'Just say cow poop.' So now I'm using 'cow poop.'**

**So yeah, that's my Cow Poop Story that you probably didn't care to know.**

Sure enough, Cody was back to school next week. Stuff reverted back to normal, and people didn't seem to question him about anything that happened to him. This struck Jack's attention, and he asked Cody once math class was over and they were out in the hallway, "How come nobody's bombarding you with questions about why you tried suicide?"

Cody only shrugged nonchalantly as he replied, "It's all about social class. Nobody pays attention to me, remember? If it was you who did what I did, it would be like the talk of the century. But for me, it's only chatted about for a few hours before everyone just loses interest and moves on. That's high school for you."

"But still, you...you were in the hospital for a _week_," Jack insisted. "Don't you think by now, people should, I don't know, talk to you more? At least ask how you're doing."

"Like I just said, it's about social class. Most people here don't care about me. If I get stuck in a ditch and slowly rot to death, they would hardly notice. I mean, they'd notice, they just won't care." Cody turned to head off in the other direction. "Anyway, I'll see you around—"

Jack grasped his hand on Cody's shoulder. "Not so fast. You're coming with me."

Cody looked at Jack as if he was crazy. "What?"

"You're coming with me. You can sit with my friends at lunch." When he saw the look Cody was giving him, he begged, "Come on, it'll be fun! Don't you think it's time you should begin to pick up at least a couple of friends?"

Cody sighed in defeat. "Fine." He looked at Jack's hand on his shoulder and slapped it off. "And don't touch me. I hate being touched."

Jack rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry. Anyway—" He grabbed onto Cody's arm and began dragging him towards the cafeteria. "—you won't regret this. I promise that nobody is going to look down on you if you're thinking they will, and—" He looked behind him and saw a murderous glint in Cody's otherwise passive expression. He nervously looked down at his arm, which was still locked onto Cody's, and swiftly let go. "Right. Sorry about that. Just making sure you were following me."

Cody rolled his eyes. "I'm right behind you. You don't need to think I'm gonna run off like some kind of miserable kitten."

Once they entered the cafeteria, Jack immediately led Cody over to the table the twins and Anton were sitting at. "Hey guys! I brought someone here."

Cody's eyes immediately fixed onto Anton, who suddenly seemed to be sipping the straw in his soda a lot more nervously. Cody, for his part, seemed to stiffen up slightly and he glared hard at Anton.

Noticing this, Spencer turned to Jack. "I don't think you really thought this thing through enough."

Jack cringed as he watched the staring contest between the two apprehensively. "I'll admit I didn't."

Suddenly, Cody lunged and tried to wrap his hands around Anton's throat. "YOU!"

"GAH!"

"Oh yeah, it was a great idea to bring Cody over here so he could be the one responsible for Anton's fast-approaching funeral," Zander stated sarcastically, as he and his brother stood up to get out of the way of the scuffle. "Great job with this."

"Shut up," Jack muttered under his breath.

Spencer tugged on Zander's sleeve. "Hey Zander, we ought to go buy some chocolate chip cookies. I heard they're better now that there's a new lunch lady."

Zander complied, "Sure." He and Spencer hurried off to the lunch line.

Jack glowered at his retreating friends. He couldn't recall any news about a new lunch lady, and nobody was saying anything about the cookies tasting better than usual, so he wouldn't exactly be very surprised if the twins only wanted an excuse to leave him to break up the fight by himself. _You guys are the greatest friends a guy could ever have. Seriously._

* * *

"You and Cody need some friendship help," Jack deadpanned after lunch, as he and Anton headed off to English. "It took pretty much the rest of lunch to separate you guys! And I didn't get the chance to buy some lunch! Now I'm hungry." He put a hand to his empty stomach.

"You were the one who went ahead and brought him to me!" Anton shot back. "You've seen what the two of us are like when we're together. What gave you any idea that he would be okay with me being near him?"

"I didn't expect you guys to get along, but I didn't really think he would go and start attacking you like that," Jack murmured. "Why is he so mad at you anyway?"

"Look, he doesn't like me, and I don't like him," Anton said. "But I'll somewhat reluctantly admit that he's not stupid. He doesn't know Erik any more than you do, so if Erik really wrote that article about you guys, why would he want to hold that against you two? He also knows Samson is on the newspaper team, and that's pretty much a dead giveaway right there. And it's pretty obvious what association I had with Samson, so voila. Cody pieces it all together and he grows furious."

"Cody is pretty smart when it comes down to it," Jack agreed. "But still, shouldn't you sitting with the rest of us be any indication that you kinda severed ties with Samson?"

"Cody doesn't care," Anton objected. "I'm not sure if you know this or not, but he's not exactly the kind of person to immediately forgive and forget and concentrate on the future."

Jack rolled his eyes. "He'll get used to you. Eventually, that is. He can't go on trying to strangle you forever."

Anton looked at him disbelievingly. "If that was the case, we would've stopped yelling at each other a long time ago."

Jack fixed him with a hard stare. "Hey. Have I ever been wrong before?"

An unfazed Anton simply answered, "Yes. Zander told me all about your temporary crush. Ariel Jaleen, huh? That girl's a wench, so be careful."

Thoughts on ways to kill Zander later were racing through Jack's mind. "He's a dead man. If you see him, tell him to prepare himself."

"Uh, I'm not going to be seeing him any sooner than you are," Anton pointed out.

Jack paused, then nodded. "You're right. Then he's definitely screwed."

* * *

"So this the list of people we cast for our play." Jack thrusted the casting list in front of Cody's face the second the latter walked in through the door. "It turns out that almost everyone here sucks at acting, so we decided to just wing our choices. Zander's playing the lead, so I'm hoping he's at least decent. If he isn't, I'm gonna kill him a second time." He said this last part just loud enough so Zander, who was standing only a few feet away, could hear, and shot him a knowing glance.

Zander, noticing this, threw his arms up into the air in frustration and exclaimed, "It was your own fault that you became stupid around Ariel!"

"Why's he playing Jack Frost?" Cody asked.

Jack shrugged. "Dunno. I kinda stormed out of the room before the rest of them made that decision. Anyway, Noah Dorsey is playing Santa because who knows why, Alex Goodman is playing the Sandman because he's usually so quiet in class, and Ethan Callahan is playing Bunny because he can fake a really good Australian accent."

"It's _Evan_!" "Ethan" shouted from across the room, somehow overhearing Jack.

Jack ignored him and added, "He's got really good hearing too. So basically, that leaves the spots for Tooth and Pitch open."

"What about Jamie and his friends?" Cody inquired.

Jack pointed to the side where the actual Jamie was chatting away with Zander, Spencer, and Cici. "Who do you think?"

"Oh yeah, him. How come he's here again? Wasn't he supposed to come over here for one time only?"

Jack shrugged again. "I guess he liked coming over here that one time because he's always here now. I told him he could stay if he could contribute to the play. Once he accepted, I asked him if he could ask his friends to play the other kids." He made sure to word his explanation in a way that won't give away that the kids were actually playing themselves.

"Why?"

"Because how awkward would it be if a high schooler pretended to be a much younger kid?" Jack pointed out. "I asked McCarthy if we could cast people outside of this class, and she said yes."

"Fine. So basically you're saying you want me to play a part in this?" Cody caught on.

"Pitch, more specifically," Jack affirmed.

Cody crossed his arms. "Why me?"

"Uh..." _You're both dark and edgy, you both don't have too many friends, and you both can be scary at certain times. Besides, it's either him or Tooth. _There was no way in hell Jack was saying all that out loud. After all, he wanted to live to see another sunrise.

"Is it because we're both dark and edgy, we both don't have too many friends, and we both can be scary at certain times?" Cody very correctly guessed.

Jack stared at him. "Alright, now that's really freaky, 'cause that was what I was thinking, word for word. How'd you do that?"

"Let's just say you're not exactly the best at masking your emotions," Cody answered. "Okay, by the way."

"Huh?"

"I'll play Pitch. You've got yourself a deal."

* * *

"Do I have to do this?"

"You agreed to it."

"That doesn't mean I have to like it."

"You still agreed to it."

Like Jack had promised Cody on Friday, they were heading off to the graveyard to go see Carrie. Apparently, even Cody could get the jitters, because he was having them right now. Jack had already gotten a pair of roses, as Cody has claimed they were her favorite kind of flower. Once they reached their destination, Jack wasted no time in entering. He looked behind him and saw Cody simply standing there, as if his feet were frozen to the ground. He beckoned him to follow, and Cody hesitantly obeyed. Jack led them to where Carrie's grave was erected, under the shady oak. If Cody wondered why Jack knew the location of his sister's tomb, he didn't bother to question it. They both sat down in front of the slate tombstone. Uncomfortable silence ensued.

"So... Was she pretty?" Jack tried to lighten up the atmosphere.

Cody gave him a side glance. "Are you trying to hit on a dead person?"

"What?!" Jack shouted, clearly disgusted at the thought. "Gross, no! I-I mean, I'm sure Carrie wasn't gross! I'm just...not necrophilic! I'm attracted to the living!"

"You're funny," Cody stated, expression as neutral as ever, not bothering to take his eyes off the gravestone. However, after a moment or two, a corner of his lips twitched up ever so the slightest, the only sign of mirth he showed. That tiny movement was so subtle, it was almost invisible. Even Jack could barely detect it.

"What was she like?" Jack was genuinely curious.

This time, Cody didn't try to stop a smile from fully becoming visible on his face. "Best sister anyone could ever have. She did everything for me." His smile dropped. "I just wish I could've done the same for her."

Jack began to see where Cody was going with this. "Cody, it wasn't your fault that she died. The cause had nothing to do with you. And there's no way you could've seen it coming."

"But I saw her come home crying." Cody's eyes glazed over, becoming unseeing and unblinking. "I should've asked her what was wrong. But I didn't. I just thought something stupid must've happened and she would get over it. If I had just asked her what was the matter, I could've at least stopped her from doing what she did. She might've still been alive. But I didn't do what I was supposed to, and now she's gone."

"It wasn't your fault. It really wasn't," Jack protested. "You were, what, ten back then? You were too little to understand that she would have suicide running through her head."

"But I could've at least done something about it," Cody choked out almost robotically. "But I didn't. I didn't do anything. I couldn't even cry at her funeral. I was the youngest one there, but I was also the only one who didn't shed any tears. I just couldn't bring myself to force the tears out, even though I was the one who barged into her room and saw her dead body first. No ten-year-old should ever have to experience that. She left a suicide note, and explained that guy she liked. And the only thing I could think of was how much I'd like to go over to the high school and stab that...that bastard to death. No ten-year-old should ever have those kind of thoughts... It should've been me."

Jack stared at Cody in shock. "Don't say that!"

"But it's true!" Cody finally turned to look at Jack helplessly, beginning to breathe more heavily, on the verge of hyperventilating. "One of the reasons why I didn't go see why she was crying was that I was always jealous of her because my parents preferred her over me! They paid more attention to her than to me! We may have been close, but that doesn't mean I didn't feel irritated at her sometimes! And then when she came home, I remember feeling satisfied at the sight of seeing her upset, knowing that she could have negative emotions like me! If I had known she was going to do what she did, then I wouldn't have felt that way!"

"You were ten years old! Again, you couldn't have understood the full extent of the situation! And your parents may have paid more attention to her, but you're their only child left! They care about you and don't want to lose you like they lost her! Cody, there will always be people to care about you! Do you want to put your parents through that rollercoaster of emotions again by killing yourself like Carrie did? It's not the right way to go! You may miss her a lot, and I'm sure you do, but would she want you to do this to yourself?" Without thinking, Jack laid a hand on Cody's shoulder, paying no heed to what he had said earlier about hating being touched.

Instead of being agitated at Jack's hand making contact with him again, Cody reacted in a way nobody—not Zander, not Spencer, especially not Anton, and not even Jack—would've expected. He burst into tears and clung onto Jack.

Jack froze. He may have gotten much more used to physical contact as of late, but he never could bring himself to get used to people hugging himself whatever purpose they had. After a minute or so, he cautiously hugged Cody back comfortingly. He gently patted him on the back, letting him sob into his shoulder, not caring in the slightest if his shirt got soaked with salty tears. He almost winced when Cody hugged him even tighter, which didn't seem possible before. However, he still did not care. Cody claimed he was the only one to have dry eyes during Carrie's funeral, and if these were the tears he was finally letting out after eight long years of holding them all in, earning a damaged spine was something Jack would gladly accept.

After minutes of nonstop crying from the seemingly emotionless Cody, his grip finally loosened on Jack. The latter took this as a sign to let him go. Once he did, he smiled softly and asked, "Feeling better?"

Cody nodded as he wiped the corner of his right eye. "If... If you tell Suzuki about this, I will personally track you down and murder you in your sleep."

Jack couldn't help but roll his eyes. He remembered Anton saying something similar just two weeks ago. And little Andy had said they didn't have anything in common. "Don't worry about it, I won't. You wanna go home now?"

Cody nodded again. "Yeah... That'd be a good idea..." He took the roses, which Jack had put off to the side when they sat down, and propped them up against the hard gravestone. He looked at it for a brief moment, then got up, Jack following suit.

"Come on, let's go," Jack said and began walking towards the exit. Cody was right behind him, but he seemed to find interest in looking closely at other graves as they passed by them. They passed by a particular one, and Cody couldn't help but double take at the name that was engraved on there.

_Pippa Overland_

_April 14, 1702 – November 3, 1784_

Wasn't Jack's last name Overland? Cody shook his head. It must just be a coincidence. That was likely. And if it wasn't a coincidence, this Pippa could be Jack's ancestor back from the colonial times. Yeah, that was it. Cody was getting worked up over nothing. There was hardly anything special about sharing a last name with someone who was born over three hundred years ago.

No more than ten feet ahead, Jack had noticed Cody had stopped and called out, "Hey, you coming?"

Cody snapped out of his daze and hurried over. "Right. Sorry about that."

"You alright?" Jack asked skeptically.

Cody waved his hand. "Totally. It's... It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

**This is the only way I can write this chapter without things going horribly cheesy ._.**

**It's Saturday, May 11 right now, and the reason it's not uploaded yet is because FanFiction is being a little shit again and isn't sending out any emails for anything. And most of us depend on our alerts to be sent out to keep on being up to date on chapter updates, so until it's fixed, this will stay here saved in my very private documents. (Q: Why can't you just upload this now and the alerts will be sent out once FanFiction decides to stop being a bitch? A: Because this is the third time this has happened in like one and a half months and I'm starting to grow annoyed and I did not appreciate having to sift through my review page and my favorites list to catch up on who reviewed and who updated their fanfics today. I also don't want to get my readers to go through the same thing and/or wait for me to update when I already did so, so thank me for being considerate. Plus, it's a pet peeve of mine when alerts aren't sent out immediately. The last reason is that I'm paranoid that there will be a time when even though the alerts thing is fixed, it won't send out the alerts it missed out on during its temporary BSOD.) Besides, the next chapter is currently being started on so you guys will have a fast update.**

**Moving on to stuff related to the actual story: If anybody here is beginning to ship Jack/Cody, I'm just going to warn you guys right now before anyone gets too sucked in into this pairing – Cody's gaining a love interest in the sequel. I mean, you guys can continue shipping Jack/Cody if you want, I'm just warning you guys ahead of time so nobody will go all, 'NOOOOOO!' when the sequel comes.**

**Important: There is a sequel. It's been way too long since I spoke of this.**

**Preview for next chapter: Valentine's Day dance and...some other BS because the dance is the only thing I have planned for next time.**

**Replies:**

**PuppetMaster55: Ah. If you meant the popping noise in his arm, it's nothing important. I just felt like making him go to the school nurse for some medical help, so I just made him say that. I do that with a lot of the stuff that happens in here. Like with the Guardians' phones (which I still think was dumb) and Jack's accidental hair malfunction. All of that was only for my own personal amusement/entertainment, and I wanted to experiment and see what Jack would do/how Jack would react to that type of situation. I'm really not sorry for that. And there's still more to come (tattoos/glasses/DEAD). As for Jack's vision, it's totally fine. Now that I really think about it, there would be a bigger chance that he would just go and borrow glasses from somebody who has the same eye degree as him than go and actually **_**pay **_**for something he's sure he won't need. Cheapskate. **

**RandomKrazyPerson: The author's note is longer again. Happy now? So you follow me on Facebook? I didn't know that. But then again, other than Hatsu Yukiya and Laughs4life, I have no idea which readers liked my page XD **

**FireRaven99: I'm afraid Zander's audition won't be seen, as I doubt he's even auditioning in the first place XD He was just cast because he's a sucker and everyone else has had enough of seeing terrible auditions :P**

**akizaki14: :O :D I'm glad you think this fills the gap To Have a Home left when it ended, though I don't think I could ever be as good as Hatsu XD And... I don't think the Guardians will be appearing in the next chapter. Jack won't be dancing with anyone at the dance (Yes, he's going after all). Just to answer your question, I'm neutral for FairyFrost. As a matter of fact, I'm neutral for pretty much all the pairings involving the Guardians, although JackRabbit makes me a little uncomfortable. Not that there's anything wrong with that pairing, it's just not something that appeals to me. BUT... I kinda **_**sorta**_** ship Jack and Mother Nature together because...I can just picture Pitch being an overprotective father... And out of all the pairings in the Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons fandom, I ship Jarida the most.**

**Guest (1): If Jack's going to wear glasses, he's not going to wear them 24/7. More like the most minimal amount possible XD**

**ImagineMusic: ...When I hear another girl say that, I automatically love her. I love you forever and ever. -doesn't sound creepy at all-**

**Lovepuppy316: HEY I LET HIM LIVE, DIDN'T I. Seriously though, he's lucky he's my favorite OC out of them all because if he wasn't... AND STOP TICKLING ME.**

**Arkie: ...You're weak. Lolololol Just kidding, don't take offense XD I do like imagining Jack wearing Victorian high heel boots... Don't ask. I don't even know.**

**Hatsu Yukiya: Aw, thanks :D But I do like your ramblings, and I honestly think I would've thought my chapter was a little on the crappy side even if I didn't read them, which was why it took an entire week to be put up. And it wasn't really your ramblings at all, it was the...stuff in bold that I was talking about.**

**Guest (2): Hm... That's an interesting idea. The only problem is that I strongly doubt there would be a wolf wandering around the streets of Burgess.**

**Review!**


	29. In Which Jack Hides in the Bathroom

"So Monty, truth or dare?"

"...Truth," Monty chose carefully, casting a cautious glance at Claude.

Claude smirked deviously. "What was your most embarrassing moment in your childhood?"

"Aw, come on!" Monty cried. "Give me a break!"

"You chose truth, so you have to answer."

"Only because I knew you would give me a dare that would cause mass humiliation!"

"Monty, just answer!" Cupcake intervened impatiently. "I promise none of us will laugh! Well, I don't know about the twins, but the rest of us won't!"

"Fine!" Monty ultimately gave in. "So there was one time when I was seven, and I accidentally—"

"Guys, come on. Let him off easy." Jack suddenly appeared in the room, looking much more formal than he usually did, wearing a white dress shirt, black trousers, and black dress shoes. Draped around his neck was a black tie that had yet to be done. On top of all that, his hair was actually not sticking out from all sides for once, each and every lock laying flat on his head, not one single strand out of place. "I can pretty much guarantee that the twins'll laugh no matter what. He'll be saved from a lot of ridicule if he keeps quiet."

"So _that's _what you look like with neat hair," Caleb remarked. "I never thought I would live to see this."

Shooting him a look, Jack only said, "It's possible for even my hair to stay down thanks to the miracles of enormous amounts of hair gel."

"What's with the formal wear anyway?" Pippa asked him.

"There's a Valentine's Day dance tonight, and I'm going."

"I thought you said you weren't gonna go?" Jamie questioned.

Jack looked away. "Let's just say that mentioning the dance in front of your mom was a bad idea. The next thing I knew she was forcing me to dress up and pulling a comb through my hair without mercy."

"Aw," Caleb sighed disappointedly. "I was just about to ask you if you wanted to join us. We're playing a mash-up of Spin the Bottle and Truth or Dare."

"So you spin the bottle and the person it lands on gets asked truth or dare? Even if I wasn't going to the dance, I'd still say no. Judging from how Monty was suffering just a minute ago, I don't think I want to be a part of it even if I could."

"Jack! Is your hair still down? Do you look ready?" Mrs. Bennett came rushing into the room holding a bottle of what Jack suspected was cologne. "You haven't even done your tie yet! What are you thinking?" She set down the bottle on the side table and began doing Jack's tie for him frantically, much to the teen's chagrin.

"I was just about to do it! Ow! You're tying it too tight! Don't choke me!" Jack protested as he tried to pry Jamie's mother's hands off of him, to no avail.

She didn't let go until it was properly secured. Just when Jack thought he could finally relax, she picked up the bottle and began spraying him all over.

"Gah! Stop!" Jack put his hands up in front of him defensively. It didn't take long for her to finish spraying, but once she did, Jack sniffed his arm. Yup, this was cologne. Disgusting.

Mrs. Bennett stood back and smiled satisfactorily. "There. You look flawless. My work here is done." She walked off, still triumphant.

"I feel like a male Barbie doll," Jack muttered, then turned to the kids. Both girls looked amused, Monty looked concerned, the twins looked about ready to burst out laughing, and last but not least, Jamie looked scared for his life (What was he to do once he was the one entering high school and going to dances?). "If you twins laugh, I will go to your house in the middle of the night and castrate you."

"Ugh, okay, no one here needed to hear that," Cupcake grunted disgustedly.

"How come you always pick on us?" Claude frowned.

"Yeah, why not anyone else?" Caleb added.

Jack smirked. "Because everyone else that I know are smarter than the two of you combined." Before the twins could get a chance to reply, he opened the front door and left for school.

"That was so mean," Pippa said solemnly, though her eyes held a twinkle of mirth. "I can't really disagree with him though."

"Pippa!" the twins cried out simultaneously.

"I'm just not going to say anything," Jamie sighed. "By the way, I think Monty really ought to pass his turn, like Jack said. Spin the bottle, Monty."

* * *

Jack entered the gymnasium after a significant amount of hesitation. He was finally beginning to heed Anton's warning about how insane his female followers could be, and he doubted he would go unnoticed by all of them if he went inside. But then again, he wasn't about to turn back around, go home, and face whatever wrath Mrs. Bennett would incur.

He scanned the room for his friends, and he found all of them (except for Cici) sitting in one of the tables set up for the dance. Zander and Spencer were in a friendly and casual conversation, in contrast to Cody and Anton engrossed in a heated argument _again_. He went over to them, being extra careful not to attract the eye of a lovesick ditz. Surprisingly, nobody, at least not anyone infatuated with him, saw him sneak over to the tables. He immediately sat himself down in the last empty seat where his friends were sitting. "Hey guys."

"Oh hey!" Spencer greeted happily, yet _loudly_. "I thought you wouldn't come!"

Jack winced when he felt several eyes of certain females land on him. Jo Robinson shouted, "Jackson Overland alert!" She and her sisters began racing towards Jack, who swiftly got up and fled to the men's restroom connected to the gym.

"Nice going." Zander glared at his guilty brother.

"Oops," Spencer grinned sheepishly and stood up. "Don't worry, I'll fix this." He strolled over to the restroom door, where the Robinson triplets crowded around (The rest of the girls had dispersed after seeing Jack flee). "Hey girls, he's not going to come out if you don't give him any personal space. Tell you what, I'm sure he wouldn't mind it if you just stare at him from a distance. I think he'd prefer that over you openly stalking him like this."

Believe it or not, that worked. The triplets left and Jack was allowed to escape. Once he and Spencer were back at the table, he turned to him. "Thanks a lot." He glanced at Cody and Anton, who were still at it, having not stopped for one millisecond. "What happened to them?"

"Well, Cody was the last one to arrive before you, and Anton made some unnecessary remark about how he didn't expect him to come to the dance," Zander explained. "Cody took offense to that, and uh...things spiraled out of control. Me and Spencer tried to stop the fight, but we eventually gave up and stopped paying attention to it around the time they both began dropping F-bombs."

Jack listened more closely to the things Cody and Anton were spewing out at each other for a minute, then cringed. "Yup, those are some pretty colorful words."

"Yeah, so the two of us have just been trying to distract ourselves enough so we could completely drown them out. But Spencer here," Zander spoke teasingly, "spent half the time staring dreamily at Cici."

"Zander!" Spencer shouted. "Will you please just stop?! Jeez!"

Jack searched for and spotted Cici, who was cheerfully chatting with her own companions. "He's right though. You should just build up what little guts you have and ask her to dance. It isn't even a slow dance, so there should be nothing awkward about that."

Spencer nervously fiddled with his fingers. "I don't know..."

"Just suck it up and go," Zander commanded and pushed Spencer out of his seat.

"Ow!" Spencer landed on his butt and glared up at his brother. "Hey!"

Zander only rubbed salt into the wound by kicking him in the back, not hard enough to seriously hurt him, but also not too gently. "Go."

Spencer, not wanting Zander to physically damage his body, stood up. "Fine, I will!" He went over to Cici, grumbling under his breath while rubbing his back.

"Look at him go," Jack commented as he and Zander watched from a distance.

"My little twin brother's growing up," Zander sighed melodramatically. "About time too. I was getting really sick of him cowering behind me whenever Cici came by."

"You _are_ aware that he's always been more matured and more level-headed than you, right?" Jack pointed out.

"Shut up, you."

Their conversation ceased, and the silence around them was only disturbed by Cody and Anton, who were still fighting. After a few minutes of Jack and Zander watching Spencer and Cici together, Jack decided that enough was enough. _Those two are the only ones I know who could actually argue for that long. _Even he and Bunny never fought that much. He whirled around and snapped, "Will you two stop?!"

Both of them stopped and turned to the irritated Jack. "Hey, when'd you get here?" Anton asked.

Jack sputtered, "When did I get here—" He put both hands to his face. "Oh dear Manny..."

"Manny?" Zander questioned.

"Yes, Manny." Jack sighed and stood up. "I'm going back inside the bathroom. I still feel like some plastic, fake person. And it's getting really stuffy in here."

Anton leaned over and sniffed Jack, garnering some weird looks from the others. "Are you wearing cologne?"

"Yeah. Not that I wanted to. I had no idea Jamie's mom was so crazy when it came to school dances. The only reason why I'm here is because I made the mistake of talking about it in front of her," Jack sighed again. "I'll be right back." He walked off in the direction of the restroom.

"Poor guy," Anton remarked sympathetically. "My own mom also forces me to go to school dances when I really don't wanna. That's pretty much why I gave up on trying to skip these kind of things."

Zander looked at him incredulously. "Wow. Has it really been only two weeks ago when you were still with Samson? 'Cause you really went from not liking Jack to like...best friends' status."

Anton only shrugged. "It's true though. Jack's a good guy. Best friend I've had in a long time."

Cody, who had been silent for the past couple of minutes, suddenly sat up straight and glared at Anton. "Best friend? Sorry to burst your bubble, but I think he's _my_ best friend."

Zander groaned, already sensing what this was leading to.

Anton narrowed his eyes. "Possessive, aren't you? I befriended him first, so obviously he's _my _best friend."

"Really? From what I heard, you weren't very nice to him when you first met," Cody said nonchalantly. "Don't you remember that?"

"Uh, you were pretty harsh on him too."

"Yeah, but I wasn't as bad as you."

"Can't we all just get along—?" Zander tried to ease the tension.

"Fine. Why don't we ask Jack once he comes back out?"

"You know he's gonna say me."

"More like me."

Voices were gradually raising, and the only thing Zander could think to do was get up to get a glass of punch. He wasn't thirsty at all, and punch wasn't a drink he was particularly fond of, but if it meant escaping from the clutches of one of many of Cody and Anton's explosive fights, then he was all for it.

* * *

Jack had rolled up his sleeves and loosened his tie, allowing him to finally breathe easily. _I'm never taking oxygen for granted again._ He went straight to the sink and washed out all that hair gel Mrs. Bennett had rubbed onto his head. He smiled a little once he saw his signature hairstyle had returned again, albeit a bit damp. Having neat hair was just too weird.

He looked at himself in the mirror. Sometimes whenever he looked at himself, he couldn't help but feel odd knowing that he was the owner of that mop of brown hair on top of his head. Sure, it had been almost two months since his transformation into a human, but he didn't look at himself in the mirror too often. Besides, two months was a blink of an eye compared to three hundred years.

But recently, he had been feeling himself slowly getting used to his human self. He briefly recalled his momentary forgetting of his Guardian alter ego. And now he was growing into his human looks. He was probably just being neurotic, but he was sure both of those weren't good signs.

His train of thought was cut off when he heard feminine giggling coming from somewhere in the room. Okay, that was weird. Either he was hallucinating or those chuckles were real. If they were the latter, then why would they sound girly? It was the boys' restroom Jack was in, after all. He dearly hoped it wasn't a guy who had a girl's voice, because then that would be the most disturbing thing in the world.

"He looks a lot like Jack, doesn't he?" he heard the voice say, as if there was a third person in the room. Okay, now Jack was certain that he wasn't just hearing things.

"So? A lot of unrelated people look like each other. You and I have both existed long enough to know that," a different voice spoke. This one was more masculine and much more nasally than the first.

Jack, growing increasingly perplexed, checked under the bathroom stall doors. There weren't any pairs of feet underneath any of them, so he was alone in the restroom...was he? The two voices sounded vaguely familiar, and he tried to pinpoint where he had heard them before.

"What's he doing?" the feminine voice questioned confusedly, obviously talking about Jack. Jack couldn't blame her (at least he hoped it was a her). He would be wondering stuff too if he saw another guy peeking under stalls like some kind of sick pervert. He began to notice the voices were coming from up above. He looked up at the ceiling, but the only opening he saw was the air duct.

"Being perverted, duh," the masculine voice replied. "Teens are much more disgusting nowadays than in the past. It makes me wonder about what human evolution is leading to."

"I'm not perverted," Jack snapped out loud without thinking. He was beginning to remember where he had heard the two voices before. "Can both of you just come out now so I don't look like an idiot any longer? Plus, somebody might come in here and think I'm talking to myself, and I don't want that to happen. Shouldn't you two be out spreading love instead of hiding in that air duct or wherever you're hiding?"

There was silence for a minute, but then two figures slipped through the air duct as if it wasn't there in the first place and landed on the restroom floor. One was a girl about Jack's height, with long, blonde hair that went down to her thighs and big doe eyes. She wore a white, elegant dress complete with angel wings on her back. The other person was a short, stout, much older-looking man who wore nothing but a diaper. He also had a pair of angel wings, but they were much smaller and less impressive. They were the the Cupids, and yes, there were two Cupids.

Jack sighed. "I knew it was you two. What are you doing here?"

"Shouldn't we be asking you the same thing?" the tiny man shot back grumpily, having figured out who Jack was once the winter spirit had revealed that he could hear them. "We deserve an explanation more than you do. We're not the ones who look human."

"Giorgio," the female's voice held a warning tone.

"You know I have a point, Giovanna," the unfazed Giorgio said.

"Your explanation should be shorter," Jack replied. "So you should explain first."

Giorgio glared at him for a moment before it faltered, and he sighed and shook his head. "You're so simplistic. We're just here because it's Valentine's Day."

"And we always visit the Valentine's Day school dances because its the perfect place for couples to fall in love!" Giovanna added cheerfully.

"That doesn't explain why you two were in the air duct," Jack pressed on.

"Giovanna is always paranoid that a student could see us, even though we weren't exactly the type of spirit to be believed in," Giorgio explained. "I never thought she would be right."

"Technically, I can see you only because I'm Jack Frost." He also almost asked why Giovanna would talk to Giorgio in the air duct when there was a guy in the restroom if that was really the case, but he kept his mouth shut.

"Whatever. What about you? Why are you here?"

"Um... Long story short, I got turned human by some monstrous blob." Jack hoped the other two wouldn't ask for the exact details. "I've been here since before Christmas. So yeah, as you can see, I haven't exactly found a way to weasel out of my tight spot as of yet."

"Ah. Well you don't seem too into searching for a way to go back to normal," Giorgio remarked.

"I'm not sure if you know this or not, but there aren't a lot of options to choose from to get back to my immortal self," Jack deadpanned. "I figured I could wait it out and see if my powers would return to me over time. If not, well, I'm sure the other Guardians are looking for a way. If all else fails, then a confrontation with the blob would be necessary."

"Hm. Getting yourself into trouble as usual, I see." Giorgio turned to Giovanna. "What do you think?"

Giovanna paused, then inquired concernedly, "Does that mean the wedding is postponed?"

Jack groaned and slapped his forehead. "Giovanna, we're _not_ getting married!"

"You proposed!"

"That was an _accident_! Frankly, I kinda already forgot how it exactly went down."

"There's no use trying to call off the marriage with her," Giorgio cut in. "She's one of the Cupids, for crying out loud. A hopeless romantic."

"You do realize you're implying that you're a romantic as well, right?" Jack questioned.

"Yeah. I never said I wasn't."

"...Oh. Okay. So what are you two anyway? Siblings? Cousins? Father and daughter?"

"How would you expect me to know the answer to that?" Giorgio asked impatiently. "Siblings, most likely."

Jack paused, then moaned, "Oh, gross. I don't want you to be my brother-in-law. And it would be disturbing if you were siblings because you look like you could be her parent already. Nice job implanting mental images into my mind, Giorgio."

Giorgio scowled and turned to Giovanna. "What exactly do you see in this guy?"

Giovanna, who had been playing with a long, thin strand of hair during the conversation, snapped out of her daze and asked politely, "Excuse me, what was that?"

Giorgio groaned one of his many _How-did-I-get-stuck-with-this-girl_ groans. "Never mind. We need to go anyway. There's also a Valentine's Day dance going on in a school in Maryland. Come on, Giovanna." He went back in through the way he came, not bothering to wait for his partner, knowing she will follow.

Giovanna turned to go when Jack hesitatingly spoke up, "Hey, Giovanna... Would you and Giorgio mind keeping an eye out for the blob whenever you pass by Burgess? And Pitch as well, he's after me too. If you see any signs of either of them, could you tell me if you see me around?"

Giovanna smiled in consent. "Sure." She disappeared after the male Cupid.

Jack stood for a second, then shook his head. "How do they even fit through that air duct gap?"

* * *

"_My _best friend!"

"_My _best friend!"

Zander put his head on the table wearily. Cody and Anton had been at it for ten minutes already. And what was taking Jack so long?

"_My_ best friend!"

"_My _best friend!"

"Wow. You and your loser friends really are this bored with your lives to argue between each other?"

Zander raised his head abruptly at the new voice. He turned to glower at Ariel, who was looking down at him under her nose. He snapped, "Buzz off, Jaleen! I'm not in the mood! Mind your own business!"

Ariel scoffed. "Wow. Rude." Luckily, she left.

"_My _best friend!"

"_My _best friend!"

Zander whirled around, completely fed up with the other two. "_My _best friend! Me and Spencer knew him before either of you guys! And we were friends from the start! So there!"

Neither Cody nor Anton were expecting him to suddenly jump in like that, so they both stared at him, taken aback. At the same moment, Jack finally exited the restroom and went over to them.

"Finally! What took you so long?!" Zander raged on him.

"Oh, um..." Jack stammered. "I needed to take a dump." _Nice going, Jack. Smooth. Real smooth._

"Whatever," Zander dismissed after shooting him a weirded out glance for a moment. "What matters is that you were in there for _fifteen minutes_, and I had to watch two guys duke it out, which is more frightening than Sparta!"

"Are you talking about us?" Anton pointed at himself and Cody. "Anyway Jack, whose best friend are you?"

"What?" Jack furrowed his brows in confusion. "Never mind, I don't wanna know. But to answer your question... Jamie's best friend, I guess?"

Cody's eye twitched.

"That's it," Anton said flatly. "That kid's dead."

**You see, I've seen tons of stories in the archive where Cupid is featured. I've seen ones where he's a guy, I've seen ones where she's a girl, and even though I would prefer it if he was a guy, I _did_ tell you guys I had a headcanon that Jack accidentally got himself engaged to her, and thus two Cupids are born. And I gave them Italian names because I didn't want to just call them Cupido and Cupida.**

**And headcanon that doesn't really deserve to be called a headcanon because it applies to my OCs: Cody and Anton are both clingy, little bastards when it comes to Jack.**

**Replies:**

**feathered moon wings: I guess he doesn't like to be touched because he's just one of those kinds of people who hates it when someone lays a hand on him. **

**Guest (1): O/O You think so? I honestly think Humanity and To Have a Home are way better...**

**Dude: I hope your deodorant-sprayed eyes are okay :D**

**RandomKrazyPerson: No, Pitch isn't watching the play, though it sure as hell would be funny if he was. You're reading Fun With Fanfics, right? Best rants ever.**

**Ocracoke0Island-Dreams: Funny you should mention Jack's grave, because, well... No spoilers will be given. And I think he maintains a brotherly relationship with all his friends, haha.**

**ImagineMusic: Why would you think that upset me? I said I loved any girl who said that, didn't I? XD**

**Hatsu Yukiya: Whoops, guess who's too lazy to review at all (Me). And you're the first person to say that glasses guys are hot, which I agree with completely. You're also the first person to say that Cody is adorable (which he is), and I commend you for that. We share the same genius mind.**

**akizaki14: ...What's... Do I even want to know? Yes I do. What's Y? Forgive my ignorance. And all of Jack's fangirls are drama queens, so sure.**

**Guest (2) (who is the most wonderful reviewer ever, and left me such a kind review): That's the best constructive criticism anyone could ever give me! Sure, I'll go fuck myself! That's the best way for me to improve! And because I'm just so considerate, why don't you go fuck yourself as well? You'll end up being a great writer that way! Now, sarcasm aside, you're an asshole. Good day, and I sincerely hope you take my advice.**

**Here's the thing: I don't tolerate nonsensical flames. I get pretty bitchy when this kind of stuff happens. If it's a review from a user on here, I'll reply to it sarcastically. If it's a review from a guest, I'll delete it **_**and **_**reply to it sarcastically. Let that be a lesson to all of you.**

**Review unless if all you want to do is tell me to masturbate!**

**And a little preview for what's up next: Anton gets accused of something by Samson, a very subtle Cody/Anton bromance moment is seen, Cody visits Carrie's grave again and everyone else except for Jack stalks him there, and they all notice something very peculiar in the cemetery... Oh yeah, and maybe, just maybe, Jack will question Cici about her occasional strange behavior. I'm not sure, but _maybe_.**


	30. In Which Jack Goes to See Warm Bodies

Zander flipped through the pages of the newspaper, skimming through the small print intently. "Let's see what news there are this time..."

Jack rolled his eyes as he leaned against his metal locker. "Why do you even bother reading that thing anyway? That stuff is full of bull."

"Because it's interesting!" Zander argued indignantly. "The paper has its benefits, even though some of the stuff is crap that sends certain people over the edge."

"And it was that crap that made me discover my own insecurities and sent Cody to the hospital," Jack deadpanned, unconvinced.

"Hey, you might forever hold a grudge against—" Zander's eyes widened as he turned to the second last page. "Uh..."

Jack didn't like that look on his friend's face at all. "Oh lord. What happened? What'd Samson write about me this time?"

"It's not about you, it's more like..." Zander slowly spoke and he turned the paper around so Jack could have a glimpse at it.

Like Zander, Jack's eyes widened. "Jesus, how is that even..."

Zander shrugged. "I don't know. Samson probably overheard us talking a few days ago. Remember how Anton said the chances of him being bisexual are the chances that Cody will get a girlfriend?"

"What's this about me getting a girlfriend?" Cody suddenly appeared.

"Anton—MMPH!" Zander would have continued on if Jack hadn't roughly clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Nothing!" Jack lied quickly. "Nothing important!"

Cody raised an eyebrow slightly. "You're terrible at covering stuff up." He sighed. "Whatever, I could hardly care if it's about Anton. Do you guys know where Spencer is?"

"At his locker, why?" Zander asked, managing to pry Jack's tight hand off his mouth.

Cody held up the textbook he was carrying. "I need to give this back to him. He let me borrow his science book so I could make up all that work I missed out on when I was absent last week."

"I could return it to him for you if you want," Jack piped up. "I have first period with him."

"Alright, cool." Cody handed the book off to Jack. "Thanks. I'll see you guys around." He walked off.

Once he was out of earshot, Jack sighed in relief and turned to Zander. "Look, I don't think Cody should know about what's in today's paper. Anton will undoubtedly see this at some point, and if Cody knows about this, there's a huge chance he's going to use this against Anton. Both of them still have some bad blood boiling, if you haven't noticed."

"Wow, I had no idea, even though I was alone and stuck listening to the two of them fight over something stupid last night at the dance." Then, easing the sarcasm, he agreed, "But you're right. Cody might be sympathetic, but those are some pretty slim chances."

"What are you guys talking about?" Just like Cody, Anton abruptly appeared, making the two other boys jump in surprise.

"Dude, don't do that!" Zander yelled. "Why does everyone just randomly show up like that?!"

"Sorry," Anton apologized, not looking or sounding very sincere. "What's that?" He stole the newspaper from Zander and glanced at the page.

"Uh, you might not want—" Jack began, but didn't finish.

"What the hell," Anton stated flatly, glaring at whatever article he was reading. "Samson, you douchebag. How did he even get this kind of info?"

"I'm guessing he overheard you mentioning that stuff about bisexuality," Zander answered, "and he used that to his advantage."

"Whatever," Anton sighed, shoving the paper back into Zander's hands. "Look, I'm just gonna to pretend that I never saw this. I'll just keep quiet." His eyes fixed on Jack. "And don't beat him up for me. You've provoked him more than enough. If we just ignore this crap, then he'll stop. Trust me, I know."

"But there's always that chance that he'll never stop," Jack pointed out.

"Then at least we won't be motivating him even more. He has to grow bored of this at some point."

The bell rung.

"There goes the bell," Anton remarked. "Come on, Jack, let's go." He didn't wait for him though, as he quickly walked off.

Jack, grumbling under his breath about how karma wouldn't catch up to Samson if nobody did anything about this, followed suit.

* * *

"So..." Jack trailed off as he tagged along behind Cici, leaning forward, becoming uncomfortably close to her.

Cici, however, didn't seem to mind the lack of personal space. She shot him a side glance. "So what?"

"How was the dance with Spencer?" Jack asked knowingly, his voice holding a teasing tone in it.

Cici raised an eyebrow at him. "I thought girls were the ones who were supposed to ask stuff like that."

"Just answer the question!"

Cici shrugged. "It was fun."

Jack frowned in disappointment. "That's it? It was fun? There were no sparks flying or any chemistry going on? That's depressing."

"Again, aren't we girls supposed to be the ones to ask stuff like that?" Cici questioned. "Are you sure you're not female?"

Jack cringed at the low remark. "Yes, I'm very sure. And what's wrong with guys asking girls stuff like that?"

Cici shrugged again. "It just doesn't happen a lot. Anyway, yeah, we just had fun. Nothing more to it. What did you expect?"

"Nothing much." _Except me and Zander wanted to see if Spencer had any luck with you. _"Just curious. But don't you think, I don't know, you guys are a good pair together?" _Nice, Jack. She's right, you really are turning into a romance-obsessed girl._

Cici blinked. "Do you really think that?"

"Just speaking hypothetically."

Cici hesitated, then answered tentatively, "Not really. I mean, I just can't picture the two of us together. I'm not too into having a boyfriend or anything like that. I've always thought of myself as forever single."

"How come?" Jack couldn't help but ask.

And there it was again. Cici suddenly appeared like a child again, a lost child who didn't know where her mommy and daddy were. Jack, beginning to get used to these momentary relapses, quickly added, "I was just curious. Don't answer if you don't want to."

A relieved look became visible on Cici's face, and just when she opened her mouth to say something, the late bell rang. She sighed. "Now I'm late for class. I better hurry and go. Bye." She hurriedly walked off.

Jack didn't really care if he was a little late to his physics class, since his mind was occupied somewhere else as he headed off. He frowned. Cici's evading of his innocent questions was getting rather repetitive. It was as if the topic of the inquiries reminded of something she found bothersome. But what exactly was it?

* * *

"Wait, so...Anton got slammed by Samson for being bisexual even though there's absolutely no evidence that he is?" Spencer made sure he heard right, hearing the full details about the reasons behind Anton's bad mood for the first time.

"Yup," Zander confirmed, then shot a disgusted look at the lunch table where Samson was sitting at. "I swear, I'm about this close to giving that little bastard a piece of my goddamn mind."

"Guys, I told you, I'm fine!" Anton spoke up irritatedly. "I couldn't care less about what happened!" However, his body language said otherwise. His fingers were clenched around his burrito, squeezing the poor life out of it.

Jack, taking notice of this, hesitantly said, "Uh... Beans and cheese are being squeezed out of your food right now..."

Anton looked down at his hands, then disgustedly dropped the burrito on his lunch tray. He took his napkin and wiped his hands clean.

"What happened to his burrito?" Cody appeared, carrying a lunch tray and joining the group.

"Nothing," Anton snapped angrily. "Why can't you mind your own lunch?"

Cody scoffed. "Wow, touchy."

Spencer gave his brother a questioning glance. Zander simply looked back with a _Cody-doesn't-know-about-it-and-we-don't-want-him-t o-know-because-for-all-we-know-he's-just-gonna-rub -it-all-in-Anton's-face-and-nobody-wants-that-so-y ou-keep-your-mouth-shut-or-I-will-kill-you_ glare. Spencer got the point and kept quiet.

"You know what, I feel like all of you are hiding something from me," Cody was continuing. "Like there's something bad that you don't want me to know. And it annoys me. A lot. So maybe you guys should just tell me what's going on before I blow my top. And you don't want me to blow my top."

Anton gave the rest of them a raised eyebrow. "So you didn't tell him?"

"I don't know, _should_ he know?" Zander asked.

Anton exhaled in exasperation, kind of catching on to why Cody was still oblivious. "Guys, really? Look, I couldn't care less if Cody knows about this. If he's going to make fun of me for it, then let him make fun of me. I still wouldn't care." He stood up. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm heading over to my locker. I don't feel like having company right now, so don't follow me." The snappish teen headed off.

"Okay, so he basically just admitted that you're keeping a secret from me," Cody said, crossing his arms. "What's up?"

Jack began to ramble in one single breath, "Okay so you know that newspaper that always talks bad about us and this week Anton got slammed by Samson for being bi even though he's not and even though he says he doesn't care he clearly does and we didn't tell you because we didn't want to risk you ridiculing him for it and thus bringing him down further." He inhaled deeply after that long rant. "So yeah, that's what we've been hiding from you."

Cody, somehow managing to soak Jack's almost incomprehensible spiel in, raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "So you're pretty much saying that the entire reason why I didn't know about this until now is because you thought I would rub it in his face? Just what kind of person do you all think I am?"

"Do you really want an answer to that?" Spencer inquired nervously. "Because I'm pretty sure you'll kill each and every one of us slowly and painfully if we offered an honest answer."

"Well, lucky for you, that was rhetorical," Cody replied flatly. "I'm just gonna ignore what you're implying by that and move on. So Anton got slammed by his former best friend? Harsh. And he says he doesn't care because...?"

"He claims that answering to what Samson wrote about him would only motivate him to go on with this whole newspaper thing," Zander explained. "He's got a point though. They split up, and naturally, Samson didn't take it too well, so he got his revenge. If we irritate him further, he'll just continue on with what he's doing now."

"I don't give a shit about that," Cody said back bluntly, standing up. "I'm buying a milkshake. Don't ask why." He went to the lunch line before anyone could stop him.

"What's he gonna do?" Jack asked in concern. Knowing Cody, he wasn't buying a milkshake just because he was in the mood for one, especially after he finally learned what was going on with Anton.

"Who knows? Just pray he's not gonna do anything too rash," Spencer answered, keeping a fixated eye on Cody.

The line was short, so Cody had gotten what he wanted without waiting too long. He went back over to the lunch table, but did not sit down again.

"What're you going to do with that?" Jack asked cautiously, carefully eying the milkshake in Cody's hand.

Cody shrugged casually. "You'll see." He picked up his pizza and took one last bite out of it before handing it to Zander. "I don't think I'll finish this, and I'm against wasting food, no matter how crappy it tastes, so could you continue on eating this for me?"

Zander's eyes gleamed and he swiped the pizza from Cody's outstretched hand. "Hell yeah!" He took a giant bite, and noticing the odd looks Jack and Spencer were giving him, he defended indignantly, "What?! I like food! Both of you, especially you—" He looked at Spencer. "—should know that by now!"

Jack nodded his head slowly. "Okay... I'm just gonna ignore the fact that you just shared an indirect kiss with Cody and focus on why Cody says he won't be able to finish his lunch." He looked at Cody, who was still standing up. "So...why?"

"Like I said, you'll see. Just watch me. Anyway, I'm gonna go and try to find Anton 'cause I wanna talk to him." He added before anyone could say anything, "And I'm _not_ gonna say anything mean...this time."

He went in the direction of the cafeteria exit, and as he passed by Samson's table, he stopped right behind the taller boy. He took a huge sip of his milkshake and commented loudly (loud enough so even his own friends could hear him), "Oh my god, I can't believe I chose to buy the banana flavor. I should've bought mango. I hate banana. Oh well, I'll just toss it in the garbage can." Swiftly, he dumped his entire milkshake on top of Samson's head, just as the latter was turning around to see what was going on behind him. "Oops," Cody apologized sarcastically. "Sorry, I thought that this was where trash was supposed to go, since you look like garbage and all that." Not giving Samson the chance to punch his lights out or whatever he was planning to do, he exited the cafeteria.

Back at Jack's table, the remaining three boys shared a smirk with each other. "Aw, did you see that?" Zander cooed. "Cody does love Anton deep down."

Spencer snickered. "If you ever say that to his face, you're asking for a death wish."

* * *

It didn't take long for Cody to find Anton. The latter was at his locker like he said he would be. "Hey."

Anton turned from twisting his locker combo to Cody. "Oh, it's you. What do you want?"

Cody leaned against the wall of the lockers nonchalantly. "They told me what happened. So you just became another one of Samson's victims, eh? Sucks, doesn't it?"

Anton glared hard at him. "Are you trying to rub it in my face? 'Cause that's annoying."

"You said that you didn't care."

"Caring and thinking that something's annoying are two different things," Anton argued. "Just because I'm annoyed doesn't necessarily mean I care."

"True. Anyway, to answer your question, no. I'm not here to get all cocky on you. What I'm about to say is gonna utterly destroy all the pride I have, but I feel for you. I really do. I think you're a douche, but you're at least better than Fisher."

Anton looked confused. "Why are you saying this?"

"I got slammed by him too and ended up in the hospital two weeks ago, dumbass. I thought you had a good memory."

"What? Hey!" Anton exclaimed, offended. "I didn't mean that! I meant why are you suddenly being so nice? You're not nice! Not to me, at least!"

"Oh yeah, that," Cody sighed. "Listen, I'm only doing this for Jack. I have a feeling the poor guy's fed up with our fighting. Hell, it's not just him, it's Zander and Spencer too. They hate the way we fight, probably because we attract attention and disturb the peace or something like that. I don't like fighting with you all the time. It makes my throat sore. Anyway, my point is that I don't think that one of us is going to leave this group of friends anytime soon, and we might as well at least tolerate each other from now on."

Anton kept silent for a minute, but then added, "But we're not friends."

"No. It's still too early for that. And I don't think we can get along long enough to actually become friends."

"Good. 'Cause then it'd be too awkward for both of us."

Awkward silence ensued.

Cody cleared his throat. "I just hope I don't have to stand up for you again like that. I felt weird dumping a milkshake on Samson's head for you."

Anton stared at him. "You... You dumped a milkshake on his head?"

"What? I always wanted to do that to him, but I forgot. What happened to you reminded me to do it."

"Ah." Anton nodded slowly, then asked, "What flavor was it?"

"Banana."

"You should've gotten blueberry. He hates blueberry."

Cody gave him a look. "Oh yeah, tell me that now. I could always go back there and get a second one so I could do it again."

Anton snorted, then waved a hand. "Nah, it's fine. He doesn't like banana either. I'm just saying he hates blueberry more."

Another awkward silence befell them.

Cody rubbed his arm tentatively. "Do you wanna go back? I think the others are expecting me to get you back over there."

Anton nodded. "Sure."

* * *

Walking out of the school, Jamie was rambling excitedly, "Oh my god, that was such a cool rehearsal! You guys totally rocked your roles! Especially Cody! He was so much like Pitch!"

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" Cody muttered.

"How do you even know how the real Pitch would act like if there isn't even a real Pitch?" Spencer questioned.

Jack chuckled somewhat nervously and ruffled Jamie's hair. "Middle schoolers. They're just so imaginative at times."

Jamie only frowned at Spencer's claiming that there was no real Pitch. However, he dismissed it and tugged on Jack's arm. "Jack! You promised you'd take me to see a movie if you lost the bet!"

"I was hoping you'd forget about that," Jack grumbled. "Fine."

"What bet?" Zander asked.

"Whether or not you'd be good at playing the Jack Frost role," Jamie gave the honest answer. "Jack was being a pessimist and said that you would probably suck as much as the people who auditioned."

"If you were the one who ended up having to watch Fernando Chavez's audition, you would've been pretty doubtful too!" Jack defended himself. "Besides, I already admitted that Zander's mildly decent at it!"

Jamie rolled his eyes. "Whatever Jackie, you still lost the bet. Now you have to take me to the cinema."

Jack gave him a weird look. "Since when did you go from an innocent sixth-grade boy to a sassy twelfth-grade girl? It's weird. And Jackie? Don't call me that." He sighed. "But you're right, I lost the bet. What movie do you wanna watch?"

"Warm Bodies!" Jamie shouted enthusiastically. "I heard from Monty that it's really good!"

Jack raised one eyebrow. "Isn't that the movie about that zombie dude who ends up falling for a human? You wanna watch that?"

"I'm going for the action, not the romance!" Jamie protested. "I just heard that there are guns involved!"

"I'm worried for your future if you're that excited to see people get shot with bullets," Jack deadpanned. "But fine. Let's go." He and Jamie separated from the group and walked in the other direction down the sidewalk.

"Have fun on your date!" Zander called out to them, grinning like a madman.

Jack only turned his head to him, a death glare plastered on his face, clearly getting the message across: _I'm killing you the next time I see you._

Zander, completely unfazed, turned to the rest of them. "So what about you guys? Heading anywhere?"

"I'm gonna go visit Carrie again," Cody replied. "I went with Jack on Monday, but I wanna see if I can handle going alone this time."

"Ooh, can we come?" Spencer asked earnestly.

"Uh, did you not hear me say 'alone'?" Cody questioned flatly. "'Alone' as in by myself. Not with you three."

"What? You don't like our company?" Zander feigned a hurt expression.

"No," Cody answered unhesitatingly. "I don't care if your question was rhetorical or not, I'm just speaking the truth."

"Nice to know you care," Zander muttered, all traces of humor gone.

"Aw, come on! Can't we come along? You have tons of chances to go visit her alone! If Jack can pay his condolences, why can't we?" Spencer begged.

"Do I even want to know why all of you seem so determined to go see her gravestone?" Cody rolled his eyes. "Wanting to see someone's tomb is creepy."

"It's the curiosity pecking at our brains," Anton said. "And what do you mean 'all of us'? I haven't said anything yet."

"Considering these two want to go so much, you're obviously gonna tag along with us," Cody pointed out. "You know deep down inside your soul I'm right."

"Just because I know you're right doesn't mean I can't say something about it," Anton mumbled.

"Do you wanna start something?"

"Okay!" Spencer intervened quickly before things could start getting out of hand. "It's settled! We're all going together to see Carrie!"

"I never said you could—" Cody began to say.

"Come on, let's go!" Zander took Cody's arm and began dragging him. Spencer did the same with Anton.

"Hey, we can walk on our own!"

"Don't fucking _touch_ me!"

Zander let go of Cody's arm and gave him his best authoritative, mature, reprimanding glare. "Would your sister be happy to hear you using that sort of language?"

"You fail at acting like a parent. And I'll have you know that Carrie was worse than me when it came to language," Cody informed. "She dropped F-bombs more than I did. She was a lot like me."

Anton, having managed to pry Spencer's grip off of him, asked, "So she was like a female version of you? Are you sure she killed herself just because of rejection?"

"Anton!" Spencer scolded.

"Hey, insecurity runs in the family." Cody shrugged. "And yes, I'm admitting that I'm insecure, and if you—" He pointed dangerously at Anton. "—say anything sarcastic about it, I'm kicking you where you'll never want to kicked."

Anton held his hands up defensively. "I wasn't gonna say anything!"

They reached the cemetery, and Cody led the way inside. Once at Carrie's grave, Zander piped up awkwardly, "So... How does it feel to have a dead sibling?"

"What is with all of these people? Am I the only one who has a vague sense of what to say and what not to say out loud?" Spencer asked himself aloud.

"You don't have any sense either if you're talking to yourself out loud like that," Anton pointed out.

"I'm sorry, brother, but he really burned you with that one," Zander agreed completely. "Think things through before you speak."

"I'm surrounded by idiots," Cody sighed. "I knew I shouldn't have let you guys come here. Jack's more bearable than any of you."

"What?! Come on, why would you think that?!" Zander exclaimed in indignation. "We're all friends here!"

"Not when it comes to me and Cody," Anton disagreed. "Remember?"

"I meant besides you two. You two are just an old married couple who bicker all day and night."

"Your metaphors need work," Cody said. "There's no way I'm marrying him out of all people."

"Yeah, well, you need to stop taking everything so literally," Zander shot back. "Why are we even talking about this in a graveyard? It's just wrong."

"That's it. I can't properly pay tribute to my sister with you three around," Cody decided. "Never mind, I'll just visit her another day. On a day when you three have already died and are permanently out of my life."

"You know you love us deep down," Zander supplied. "You love us yet hate us. It's called tough love."

Cody rolled his eyes. "You watch what you say, because you're second on my List of People Who I Need to Smack."

"Really? Who's first?" Spencer asked curiously.

"Anton... Duh."

"You do realize that I'm standing right here, right?" Anton reminded everyone irritably. "God, everyone's a critical douche."

Cody waved it off flippantly. "Oh, who cares what you think." He began walking towards the exit. "Let's just go already."

Zander, Spencer, and Anton were following him, and Anton was innocently peering at other gravestones as he walked past them. _Let's see... Thaddeus Burgess, the founder of the town... Beezy Miller... Beezy? That's amusing. God, this part of the graveyard is filled with colonial people. Pippa Overland... Heh, probably Jack's ancestor._

"Hey guys," he said aloud. "This Pippa Overland person has the same last name as Jack. Do you think she could be Jack's great-times-eleven grandmother? I mean, it's possible."

Cody, looking back at what caught Anton's attention, remarked, "Oh yeah, I saw this grave last time too, but then I figured that it was probably a coincidence or that Jack's family really traced back to 300 years ago."

Zander frowned. "You know... I get this really weird feeling like I've heard the name Pippa before..."

"Jamie has a friend named Pippa. Maybe you overheard him talking about her?" Spencer suggested.

Zander shook his head. "No, no, that's not it. I think that Jack mentioned the name Pippa once before..." He groaned in frustration. "Why can't I remember?!"

_"You have a sister back home?"_

_"You could say that."_

_"What's her name?" _

_"Pippa."_

Zander's eyes widened as realization hit him. "Oh god..."

_"She was eight the last time I saw her."_

_"Why do you sound like you haven't seen her in a long time?"_

_"'Cause I haven't."_

"Holy—WHAT THE HELL, JACK!" Zander hollered at the top of his lungs. "GODDAMMIT!"

"Oh my god, dude, don't yell like that!" Anton, being the one standing closest to him, winced and rubbed his now throbbing ear.

Zander, ignoring him, grabbed his brother roughly by the shoulders and shook him. "Spencer! Remember that time we went over to the Bennett house for Christmas dinner and Jack mentioned he had a sister?!"

"He has a sister?!" Cody and Anton said in unison.

Spencer frowned for a brief moment, but his face lit up when he realized what Zander was talking about. "Oh yeah! I remember! Wasn't she named—" He put two and two together. "...Oh."

"I think me and Cody are both completely lost here," Anton commented on the sidelines. "Can someone just hurry up and explain?"

"Jack told us he has a sister named Pippa!" Zander told them. "That's what we're freaking out about!"

Spencer frowned. "Uh, _you're _freaking out. I'm keeping my cool."

"Shut up."

"Wait, so this is all because Jack's sister just so happens to have the same name as someone who lived 300 years ago?" Anton questioned. "That's nothing to make a big deal out of. People share the same names all the time." He paused, then turned to Cody, who had crouched down by the grave next to Pippa's. "Come to think of it, why's your sister buried near all these people who lived centuries ago? And what are you doing?"

"She was originally buried somewhere else, but then we moved her coffin when I transferred," Cody explained, not taking his eyes off the grave he was now staring at. "And I'm inspecting." He carefully examined the dust-covered grave, which was obviously not as well-kept as Pippa's or Carrie's. "Because I just have a hunch about this..." He gingerly wiped off the dust, making the name on the stone visible. His eyes widened. "Yup, now even I think things are getting really weird."

"What?" Anton kneeled down next to him and looked, resulting in an identical reaction. "Oh god..."

"I'm a little scared to see what you guys are looking at, but whatever," Spencer said as he and his brother also took a closer look at what intrigued Cody so much.

_Jackson Overland_

_December 1, 1694-December 20, 1712_

Silence fell over all of them, until Zander turned to Anton. "You still think this is no big deal?"

"Hey, maybe...these two dead people were Jack's great-great-whatever grandparents and he and his sister are named after them," Anton suggested weakly, clearly not believing himself.

"So you're saying that they were husband and wife?" Zander scoffed. "Come back down to Earth, Anton, this Jackson Overland person only lived from 1694 to 1712, meaning he was eighteen when he died. And the Jack we know is eighteen. Coincidence or not coincidence?"

Anton opened his mouth to retort back, but could find no words to say.

"The headstone says here that this guy died by falling into the lake during winter," Spencer read. "It also says he's a hero, whatever that's about. Hey Zander, remember when we went skating over winter break and we mentioned to Jack about a person who fell through the ice and drowned a few hundred years ago? I think this might be him."

"Oh crap," Zander muttered when he remembered. "And remember how Jack suddenly became a smartass and made up this really weird theory about why the body was never found?"

_"I actually heard from Mom that actually happened once, like, way back then in the colonial times. This guy who was around our age drowned in the lake and they never found his body."_

_"Eerie. Maybe the fish ate his corpse."_

_"Uh, from what I know, there are only small fish in the lake. I don't think they could decompose a body completely before someone goes down to look for it."_

_"Fine, then what's your theory on what happened, genius?"_

_"The Moon decided to resurrect him."_

"Bro, this is all adding up somehow," Zander began to rant. "What if... What if... Jack is somehow the same guy who drowned 300 years ago? It doesn't seem possible, but that's like the only explanation for all of this! It's creepy as hell, and I don't wanna think this way, but I can't help myself!"

"Zander. Zander! Come on, you look like you're about to have a heart attack!" Spencer grabbed his brother by the shoulders, attempting to soothe him.

Zander took a couple of deep breaths, calming himself down. "Thanks. But seriously, what's up with all this weirdness?"

"It's probably just me, but I've always thought that Jack seemed to be hiding some huge secret from everybody," Anton piped up. "Like he'll mention something that's happened to him before any of us have met him, but then he won't explain any further details no matter how many times people peg for answers."

_"I get around enough to know that you're not the only person in this world who feels this way."_

Cody sighed. "I never thought I could agree with you, but you're right. He was like that to me when I was still in the hospital."

_"I know I seem like a perfect guy to you and everyone else. But the truth is, I'm not. I've gone through the most terrible things anyone could ever go through. I was a lonely kid, and I hated myself for being pretty much unnoticeable. And I'll admit I've done some pretty rash stuff to get attention. In short, I was an attention-seeking bastard. But then I somehow managed to get over it. It still hurt, but it was just enough for me to move on. And eventually, things got better. I'm still a little lonely deep down, but I know that'll continue to change."_

"What'd he say to you two?" Spencer asked.

"Nothing!" Anton snapped.

Cody only growled menacingly at poor Spencer.

Spencer held up his hands. _Yikes. _

"That pretty much confirms it," Zander declared, completely disregarding the way Cody and Anton were harassing his innocent brother. "Jack's hiding something. And we need to find out what."

Spencer looked slightly skeptical. "We are? Isn't that invading his personal space?"

"He invaded me and Cody's personal space," Anton pointed out. "He can't expect us to mind our own business if he doesn't do that, right?"

Spencer didn't look convinced. "But..."

"Come on," Zander pressed. "Invading someone's personal space isn't always bad. If Jack never got through to Cody and Anton, we would all still be a threesome, Anton would still be a dick, and Cody would probably be dead."

"He's right," Cody agreed.

Spencer sighed and gave in. "Fine. But if he ends up yelling at all of us, I'm turning the blame over to the rest of you."

Despite his reluctance, one question lay on all four boys' minds: _Just what was Jack hiding?_

**...I like writing Cody. He's fun to write. Especially when it comes to his relationship with Anton.**

**But anyway, I wasn't feeling this chapter until I got to the graveyard part. This whole discovery thing was something I was really looking forward to.**

**Fun time with replies now:**

**GhostGirl58: Probably in like...five chapters? Maybe less.**

**storygirl99210: Did you expect Anton to be accused of being bisexual? I'm sure you expected the stuff that happened in the graveyard, but did you expect the newspaper thing?**

**readandwrite4evernever20: YES YOU TRIED BOBA. YOU TRY BOBA AND YOU WON'T REGRET IT. I always get the original flavor, but I've tried the taro flavor a couple times a few years ago. 'Twas lovely. And I wouldn't have gotten the concept of two Cupids if I didn't notice how nobody seems too sure about what gender Cupid is. And I couldn't decide, so XD**

**RandomKrazyPerson: How in the world are Cody and Anton like me and Hatsu? D: As far as I know, I've never tried to strangle Hatsu :P**

**Lovepuppy316: Yay time to teach people vocabulary :D A person who likes the dead is called a NECROPHILIC, young one. It's pronounced neh-cro-FEE-lick. And the fetish itself is called necrophilia. It's pronounced neh-cro-FEE-lee-ah... Why am I talking to you like you're a preschooler? Sorry about that XD And oh my god you come up with the most interesting predictions ever. And I seriously doubt everyone still remembers that Anton has red hair.**

**feathered moon wings: I update as soon as my chapter is finished. Sometimes it takes longer than other times, since it all depends on how busy I am, so yeah, I guess it's random in a way.**

**akizaki14: ...Why would I... Why would I write any JackRabbit when I said that I didn't like the pairing all that much? :/ And considering the dance is over, I strongly doubt it. Baby Tooth is just...silent on Jack's shoulder for the time being. That's all I can offer as an explanation.**

**Faliara: ...That actually was what I was already planning on doing XD It's official, you're psychic.**

**rantingsarah: Ugggggghhhhh I'm trying to input more Baby Tooth and Wynter in this story, but it's not working fml**

**pearlsofwisdom: They can if they want to. But no.**

**Up next: A chapter that will most likely turn out crappy, and it centers around the Cici subplot.**

**Review!**


	31. In Which Jack Senses Pitch's Presence

**Me and my friendz r playin a game where we see who can last a dai without complaining. LULZ! XD It's so much fun! Lulz again! 3**

**Next day: Ugh, I'm done talking that way. Why was I even attempting to do that? That was traumatizing.**

**Beware: Warm Bodies spoilers up ahead.**

Jamie, in short, was very disappointed at the lack of violence Warm Bodies left behind. For all he cared, R was a complete sap. "That was a total letdown! How can a zombie boy just rapidly turn human once he falls in love! It's so stupid!" he griped as he and Jack entered his (their?) front door.

Jack shrugged. "Hey, you were the one who wanted to watch it. Besides, I personally liked it."

"But-But-" Jamie sputtered. "But it's so dumb! It was so cheesy! What kind of zombie just snaps out of his zombie trance because he lays his eyes on a girl?! It's Romeo and Juliet all over again!"

"I thought the movie was supposed to be loosely based off of Romeo and Juliet," Jack remarked. "Even their names show it. R and Julie. Anyway, weren't you paying attention? R already was out of his 'zombie trance' before he even met Julie. And frankly, boys hopelessly chasing girls is very common in real life. You and Pippa, for instance."

"Please don't bring that up," Jamie muttered begrudgingly, as they both sat down on the couch. "It hurts enough as it is. She has an innocent crush on this high school guy."

"Do I know this guy?" Jack asked curiously.

"...You could say that."

"Who is it?"

"I don't wanna talk about it," Jamie snapped moodily.

Jack scoffed. "Wow, tempestuous much? But I get how you feel. Remember Ariel?"

"Oh yeah, I do." Jamie grinned goofily. "She was the one who turned you into a lovesick fool. How can I not remember her?"

"Are you trying to get on my bad side? 'Cause you don't want that," Jack threatened.

"I'm your first believer. I'll never get on your bad side, no matter what."

"True."

"But honestly," Jamie continued, becoming serious again, "I don't think you and Ariel could be counted as one of those 'boys hopelessly chasing girls.' You snapped back to your senses in the end, so you aren't exactly classified as hopeless."

"Good point," Jack agreed. "I think Spencer and Cici suit that category way better."

Jamie stared, his full interest piqued. "Spencer Anderson? From across the street? And the same Cici from that time when we went over to her house? They're together?"

"Not exactly," Jack sighed. "Or at least, not yet. Spencer's a wuss, and I have a feeling that Cici isn't too willing to take it to the next level with him."

"Why not?"

"I don't know, she closes herself up and won't give me an answer whenever I ask," Jack sighed again. "It's like she has this deep, dark secret she doesn't want anyone to know. But I really don't see how that fits in with simply asking out a guy."

"Look, if a girl doesn't want to ask out a guy, then it usually means she's afraid," Jamie explained. "I know that because I watched a bunch of soap operas. Don't ask."

Jack asked anyway. "Did your mom force you to watch them with her?"

Jamie hesitated, then nodded his head slowly. "Yeah..."

"Thought so. Anyway, what's this about Cici possibly being afraid of asking Spencer out?"

"If a girl's unwilling to get a boyfriend and 'closes up' whenever someone asks why, there's a chance that something huge happened to this girl in her past that makes her think that love is useless," Jamie informed him. "It could also have something to do with her parents, which is often the case."

"Come to think of it, remember that time we both went over to her house and you asked about her dad, but she didn't answer?" Jack recalled.

Jamie nodded. "Yeah, I remember that. She suddenly got all silent."

"She's exactly like that when it comes to asking her about Spencer as well, so maybe these two things are tied together after all..." Jack mused. After a second, however, he only cast an unimpressed glance at Jamie. "'Love is useless'? Really? I think those soap operas must be rubbing off on you."

"Hey, I helped you figure out her motives for her quietness, didn't I?" Jamie defended.

"Yeah, but you never know. You could be wrong," Jack pointed out. "I mean, not that I don't have faith in you, but sometimes things are the least you would expect. Who knows, maybe she isn't bothered by her parents at all."

Jamie looked at him incredulously. "That's deep, considering it's you."

"Hey!" Jack exclaimed, offended. "I can be smart!"

"...Right." Jamie was clearly unconvinced.

Jack growled menacingly. "Do you want the monsters that are my fingers to tickle you again?"

Jamie got up in a flash. "No!" he shouted fearfully, then ran up the stairs, trying to save himself from giggling uncontrollably.

Jack shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Kids. When will they catch on that their high school elders are superior over them?" he muttered to himself as he went after Jamie.

* * *

Jack had thought about what Jamie had told him, and the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. If Cici really was affected by her parents like Jamie had predicted, then it was clear how this was possible. Obviously, there was the mysterious absence of her father. But now that Jack _really_ thought back to that day he had hung out at her house, he remembered that he had thought that her mother seemed younger than most moms when their children reached their late teens.

That was it. If he waited for her to tell him her secret on her own, then she might never get a chance to. He needed to go over to her and demand an answer from her.

Which was why he was currently standing outside her house, taking one last deep breath before he had to storm in. Okay, so maybe not storm in. More like politely go up to her front door and ring the doorbell.

...Same thing.

He did exactly that. None other than Cici's mother answered. She seemed surprised to see him. "Oh! Jack! I didn't know you were coming."

"Cici doesn't either," Jack simply answered, stepping in. He looked around. "I need to talk to her about something. Where is she?"

"Up in her bedroom." Mrs. Sanders looked in the direction of the stairs. "Cici!" she called. "Jack's here to see you!"

A few seconds later, Cici emerged from her bedroom off to the side and peered down at the other two. "Hey Jack. Do you need something?"

"Uh, yeah. Can we talk? In private, I mean. In your room or something."

Cici raised her eyebrows. "Sure, I guess. Come on up here."

Once they were up in her bedroom, just the two of them, Jack cut straight to the point as he always did and told Cici firmly, "I want to know more about you."

Cici blinked in confusion. "What?"

"I want to know more about you," Jack repeated.

"Is that a confession?"

"Huh?! No!" Jack frowned. "I don't like you! I mean, I like you, but not like...romantically!" He shuddered. "I'm still sore over what happened the last time I liked someone!"

"What happened?" Cici asked curiously.

"We're straying away from the original topic here," Jack redirected their conversation back on track somewhat nervously. "Look, I realized that I barely know anything about you, even though you know pretty much everything about me. And it's usually the other way around. We're friends, and you're the only one who I've told my secret to. Shouldn't you at least return the favor? For me?"

Cici stared at him for a moment before sitting down on her bed and sighing. "What exactly do you want to know about?"

"Your family," Jack delivered it straightforwardly. "'Cause I've noticed that whenever someone asks you about your parents, you end up closing yourself up. Like there's a huge secret you have that you don't want anyone to know."

Cici looked at him disapprovingly. "Isn't this just prying into my personal life?"

"You know _my_ personal life." Jack wasn't about to give up on this.

"Yeah, but you don't have anything to be ashamed of! It's easier for you to admit your secret because it isn't something that'll make someone look at you and think, 'Wow. I never thought this person would be like that.'"

Jack smiled grimly. "I wouldn't be too sure about that." He was certain that people would look at him differently if they knew his true identity.

"Well yeah, I guess knowing that you're Jack Frost would have some sort of effect on the opinion they have of you," Cici relented. "But you get my point. It doesn't have a negative...feel to it or whatever it's called."

"So? Cody Gray has a deceased sister," Jack argued, "and he's still okay."

"I heard he attempted suicide."

"Yeah, he did. But he's fine now. He's joined my group of friends, and he and Anton Suzuki have formed a truce...sort of. They didn't really explain it very clearly." He furrowed his brows in thought. "But they're getting along better, even though there are still a few fights here and there."

"Jack..."

"Come on, Cici!" Jack remained persistent. "It can't be that bad, can it?"

"If it wasn't that bad, I would have said it already," Cici mumbled just loudly enough for Jack to hear. She spoke in a clearer tone, "You probably think that I'm one of those cheerleaders who's perfect at everything and is happy all the time."

"What?" Jack exclaimed with fake disbelief. "What are you talking about? You're nothing like that!" However, the back of his mind whispered, _Mary Sue_.

Cici was not to be fooled for one second. She halfheartedly glared at him. "You blatant liar." Her unimpressed expression faltered. "Not that I'm really mad or anything. I know I do seem like it. But I can't help but act like that, because I don't know how people would feel about me if I let my perfect character down, and let everyone see what I'm really like. But what makes this so conflicting is that I know people don't like perfection either. We humans are so picky in choosing who we like, and it scares me. I shouldn't care so much about what people think of me, but I just can't help myself."

"Why are you so stressed out about this? Someone not liking you isn't the end of the world," Jack comforted gently. "There's nobody in this world who isn't disliked by at least one person. It isn't a big deal."

"I know deep down it's not a big deal, but I just can't help but think that it is," Cici murmured miserably. "You probably think this is ridiculous."

"No! No, I'm still listening. Keep on venting, I'm still here."

"It's just that...this secret you keep on trying to make me reveal is the reason I think all that. I'm not carrying a secret alter ego like you are, which is why I'm so hesitant to share it with you," Cici explained. "I just...don't know what to do."

"Cici..." Jack pressed. "Tell me what's wrong."

"I'm an accident, Jack," Cici confessed. "I wasn't supposed to exist. The reason why I don't like talking about my dad is because I don't have a dad."

"What are you talking about, that doesn't make any—" Jack caught on. "...Oh... That explains a lot."

And it did. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. It didn't just explain her reluctance to talk about her dad, but it also explained why she was so unconfident in giving Spencer a chance. Growing up without getting to know her own father didn't exactly give very much faith in the possibility of having a happy relationship, after all.

But there was still one little thing that bothered him. "But wait, what about you still believing in the Guardians? How does that contribute to this? Or does that involve something else?"

Cici exhaled audibly as she lay down on her bed. "No, it also involves this. Even I'm not too sure about the answer to that. But I was a lonely girl growing up. The only person I could consult with was my mother. So as a child, I found fascination with people like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. They weren't just legends to me, they were the ideal heroes I always wished really would exist. And I guess I let that wish get to me, and I really started believing." She laughed dryly. "Little did I know, I was right to start having true belief."

Jack nodded. "Seems justified enough."

"But honestly, considering how my mom was a teen mom and broke up with who's supposed to be my father, I feel sad sometimes," Cici continued, as if she didn't hear him. She sat up. "I wasn't meant to end up being conceived. And just knowing that makes me wonder why my mom didn't simply abort me once she found out she was pregnant."

"Cici, don't say that." Jack gingerly laid a hand on Cici's shoulder. "Listen, just because you weren't meant to happen doesn't mean your mom doesn't want you. If she didn't want you, she would've gotten rid of you a long time ago. She loves you, I'm sure of it."

Cici looked unconvinced. "That doesn't really change things," she mumbled.

"Hey, you shouldn't focus on what's accidental," Jack reassured. "At least, not too much. And I don't know if you realize this, but there are two different kinds of accidents: happy accidents and regretful accidents. You're a happy accident and if someone tells me otherwise, they're gonna wish the apocalypse happened to them first, because I know martial arts and some certain people will find themselves roundhouse kicked in the face."

Cici laughed despite herself at the unusual threat. "Thanks, that's comforting."

Jack grinned his signature grin before becoming serious again. "I'm serious though, quit being so down on yourself. It's not healthy, and being the Guardian of Fun, that makes me uncomfortably itchy. I want to see you have more self-confidence. I mean, I'm over three hundred years old. My own parents are dead. At least you still have your mom ready to have your back." He removed the hand on her shoulder and pushed her on the side playfully. "And ask out Spencer, will ya? If you don't, the poor boy will never rest."

Cici rolled her eyes. "Are you seriously still on that? I don't like rushing relationships."

"Come on, you don't have to officially begin dating or anything. Just one date will make him overjoyed. It doesn't matter how big or small it is; he's just looking for one outing with you."

Cici still looked skeptical. "Are you really that insistent?"

"Do you really expect me to answer that?"

Cici sighed. "Fine. Maybe. I'll think about it."

Jack whooped and did what Cici assumed was a cannonball to the bed. "Yes! He so owes me and Zander better be on his knees calling me the expert hooker-upper the next time he sees me!"

Cici raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Ecstatic, aren't you?"

"Shut it, I get overly excited sometimes," Jack defended with a huge smile on his face.

Little did they know, a dark figure was watching both of them in the shadows. Inspecting them quietly, he murmured softly to himself, "So he seems to have let one person in on his little Jack Frost secret..." A sneer broke out on his triangular face. "Now this is fun. This girl might be the gates opening up to my opportunity..." With an evil snicker, he disappeared.

Jack, thinking that he heard something, turned around to face where Pitch just was a mere second ago. "Did you hear something?" he asked Cici.

Cici followed his line of eyesight and didn't see anything. "No. Maybe you were imagining it."

Jack frowned, but let it go. Even though he didn't bring it up, he felt like he should be worried—like he really wasn't imagining the Boogeyman's presence after all.

**...Oh, suck it up, it's only been almost two weeks. That isn't the longest time I've been gone. The sole reason why this chapter, which has been the shortest chapter in a long time, took so long is because I don't like the content in it. And the reason why I don't like the content is because I don't like Cici very much, due to her seeming like a Mary Sue so far. ((Don't worry, I'll be giving her some character flaws later on))**

**But I'm on summer break already, so updating faster shouldn't be too hard. For the people who still have school, have fun, I wish you luck.**

**I'm sorry, I couldn't help but say that. I can be a little shit sometimes.**

**But seriously, I promise a faster update next time.**

**Replies (Plenty of people reviewed this time):**

**DarkBlueCloudAngel: Ship them all you want, but Cody's still getting a love interest in the sequel XD**

**RandomKrazyPerson: Nope, they're not questioning Jamie. They don't have any evidence that Jamie knows anything. Baby Tooth was forgotten again in this chapter :P And I don't get JackRabbit either, but I've read this story where they both made tiny frostbunny babies. I have no idea, don't ask.**

**Lovepuppy316: Warm Bodies doesn't have too many guns... I'm sure you could handle it.**

**feathered moon wings: Sure, I guess Jack's a gossip girl XD Cody's adorable. He's the best OC I have ever created.**

**Guest: According to my spell check, intenseness is indeed a word XD And sure, I guess I could ask her to make a comic. **

**dude: ...Coton. That sounds more efficient XD And yeah, Anton's red hair was only brought up once when he was introduced, so I didn't expect anyone to remember that.**

**Ocracoke0Island-Dreams: I hope you weren't disappointed by the content in this chapter then.**

**naien543: You know, having Cupid as a hermaphrodite seems more interesting than having two of them. I praise you for the original idea.**

**akizaki14: Ooh, Friends! I spend my free time searching up Friends crack videos featuring Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons :D And as for the yaoi and yuri thing, I hope I don't sound like I'm lecturing you or anything, because that's the last thing I want to sound like, but I personally believe that your friend shouldn't say mean things to a person just because they share different opinions. 'Cause really, what's so wrong with that? Hating it is one thing, bashing a person who likes it is just a whole other level. I hope I don't sound too reprimanding.**

**rantingsarah: asdfghjkl fanart I want it link it please :D**

**Anonfangirl: Remember, they may have caught on to most of it, but they still haven't suspected Jack to be Jack Frost yet. They've linked a lot of it together already, but they shouldn't figure everything out at once.**

**Frosty3.0: ...Happy belated birthday... I'm sorry I didn't update in time D:**

**JustAnotherWritingNobody: I picture Zander having brown eyes like his brother. Nice username, by the way.**

**Shift: Oh stop it, I'm not that good XD Hatsu Yukiya is way better. Anyway, Pitch will appear first, but Immo will definitely come up again.**

**Lamae Martin: It's reviewers like you that keep me going :D You are amazing. And luckily for you, you didn't have to wait long at all, unlike all these other people :P**

**I actually find it really amusing how everyone expected a certain confrontation with Jack but then I pull this out of my sleeve. Anyway, review!**


	32. Extra: In Which Jack Wonders About Anton

**Oh look, it's an extra. You guys didn't get one of these in like twenty chapters.**

**Anyway, this isn't nearly as long as the last one, but I hope you appreciate it anyway. The reason why it exists is because of Lovepuppy316 bringing up Anton's red hair, which ended up sparking quite a reaction with some other reviewers -cough- By the way, this takes place sometime in the future, after they all find out Jack's secret.**

It was a normal day at Jamie's house, other than the fact that all of Jack's friends were visiting, which evidently didn't happen too often. Cody and Anton were both sitting on the couch watching a movie, while Zander and Spencer were sitting on the floor playing a card game with Jamie, at the latter's insistence. As for Jack, he was sitting on the sill, looking out the window, seemingly pondering about something.

After a while, he abruptly spoke up, "Hey Anton, can I ask you something?"

Everyone else was so engrossed in their activities, they weren't expecting the sudden question. Zander, Spencer, and Jamie looked up from their game and Cody paused the movie he and Anton were watching.

"Uh, sure, I guess?" Anton answered tentatively, turning to look at Jack. "What's up?"

"Are you Asian? Because you look like it."

Anton raised an eyebrow at that bizarre inquiry. To be honest, he was expecting a much less random topic to be brought up. "Yeah, why? I thought everyone here knew that already."

"You're Asian?" Zander seemed unnecessarily surprised, dropping a couple of the cards he was holding. "I thought you were white."

"His name's Suzuki though. That sounds more Asian, specifically Japanese, than American," Spencer argued.

"Yeah, what he said," Cody agreed. "And just take a look at this dorky face and I dare you to tell me that it looks more white than Asian." He took a hand and grabbed Anton's face, pinching both of his cheeks.

Anton, completely unamused, pried Cody's hand off of him.

"Wait, why are we making a big deal out of this again?" Jamie questioned, apparently the only levelheaded person in the room at the moment.

"Beats me. They're probably just being racist." Anton shrugged nonchalantly, promptly ignoring the offended looks all his friends (except for Cody) were giving him.

"We're not racist!" Zander complained. "It's not our fault that your ethnicity is so confusing!"

"What's so confusing about it?"

"You say that you're Asian, but clearly some people are confusing you to be white," Jack explained, finally turning his head to look at him. "I don't blame them. Your face looks Asian, but you have that red hair going on."

"The red hair came from my mom."

"And your mom has red hair because...?" Spencer pressed.

"My mom's white," Anton stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "My day's Japanese. They're both of a different race. I'm half-white and half-Japanese. I got the face from my dad and the hair from my mom. Sheesh, I thought that at least one of you would've considered that possibility by now."

"I always thought your hair was dyed," Cody admitted.

"What?!" Anton looked at Cody indignantly.

"Hey, I'm just saying, your hair doesn't look natural," Cody continued casually, acting like he didn't notice Anton taking offense to that.

"Alright, this conversation is over," Jack declared, not wanting a storm to break out. "I was just wondering. Excuse me for questioning it and causing an unnecessary annoyance."

And that was it. Jack resumed his brooding, Cody and Anton continued on with their movie, and Zander and Spencer went on with their card game with Jamie (Jamie won). The subject of Anton's race was never brought up again that day.

**So there you have it. A little drabble. I hope you're satisfied, Julia.**

**It's been so long since I wrote something as short as this. It feels good.**

**Oh boy, I just love how everyone is dying to see the guys all confronting Jack, and I'm just stalling it just because I feel like it XD But seriously guys, the confrontation thing isn't supposed to happen until like a few chapters later.**

**Replies:**

**MadlyMagical: Yes, but I was grinning smugly as I was typing that, because everyone else is stuck at school while I'm just chilling :P**

**feathered moon wings: Well I updated two days in a row now, so be happy. Though I'm not sure if this counts because this isn't really an official chapter. And I'll be giving Cici some character flaws later on. Don't worry.**

**freedominafallenworld: Well if you recall the earlier chapters, you already knew Pitch was returning XD And yes, killing my readers is my goal here. It's fun :P I want to say something, but it involves a spoiler, so I'll keep my lips sealed.**

**Ynona: What are you talking about, I love your review. I get what you're saying about Cody, and I actually find him like that as well. And you actually found To Have a Home through this story? Wow, it's usually the other way around :D Believe it or not, I liked Warm Bodies. But then again, I'm not Jamie or you, so :P**

**Frosty3.0: ...What. You thought I wouldn't read your review? I'm so offended D: Haha, just kidding. Seriously though, I read all my reviews. It's pretty hard to ignore any reviews I get when I check my email like ten times everyday and get a notification every time. Plus, I like reviews, so why wouldn't I read?**

**agent000: Haha, thanks for the help offer, but I think I'm good at this moment :P I already know what flaws I want to give her. I guess Cici is just hesitant to talk about her illegitimate birth because she's more of the careful type. It has nothing to do with her ethnic background whatsoever. But just to answer your question, Cici is part-Italian on her mother's side due to her ancestry. **

**akizaki14: No worries, it's fine :D And a Mary Sue is a character—a girl—who seems to be perfect and does not have any flaws. And even though it won't seem like it at first, that's a pretty bad thing, because readers prefer characters that they can relate to, because nobody's perfect in real life. Trust me, literally everyone I know strongly dislike Mary Sues, and I have a feeling that's one of the many reasons why people hate Twilight so much. The male version is called a Gary Stu.**

**DjinnAtwood: ...Hell's Angels. I love that name. Those four will be known as the Hell's Angels from now on.**

**Blue Torpedo: It is, but it's not playing in the cinema anymore. It was released back in February shortly before Valentine's Day. The DVD is about to come out on June 4 though.**

**Dude: Tell your friends that just because it's animation doesn't mean it's only for kids. I personally believe that animation is the only type of movie that's suited for everyone, whether you're 8 or 68. Everyone can enjoy it. If your friends have a nice comeback for that, I'd like to hear it.**

**Hatsu Yukiya: I WILL NOT STOP WITH THE PRAISE. Oh yeah, Zander, Spencer, Cody, and Anton are the Hell's Angels, while Cody and Anton are the Crouton Pairing. That's a wonderful idea. Anton's favorite food ought to be croutons. And no, you're not the first one to begin shipping them together. Just look through my reviews page and you'll know. You know you're mainly the reason why this extra was written? I had originally given him the last name Suzuki because I ran out of last names and couldn't get Japanese surnames out of my mind, but then a few chapters later, after I decided to give him red hair, I decided that he really should genuinely be Asian. And then I see you freak out over this, hehe. And thus, I was inspired with this little snippet. And you better not die on me, where am I gonna get my quality writing from if you do ._.**

**RandomKrazyPerson: Half of the stuff in my favorites list is pretty much abandoned for life, so you're not alone XD**

**Review please! **


	33. In Which Jack Messes Things Up

Zander paced back and forth impatiently, looking up every few seconds to see if he could spot who he was waiting for. "Ugh, where is he?!"

"Patience," Spencer reassured. "He should be here any second. It's not like he can jut teleport here."

"But we've been waiting here for like..." Zander looked up at the clock on the wall. "Three minutes and thirty-seven seconds!"

"...Zander, did you seriously bother counting every second we've been standing here?" Spencer asked flatly. "Are you sure I'm the twin who's more uptight?"

Zander, however, ignored him, seeing that an approaching Jack became visible. "He's coming! Shush, act cool!"

"You're the one who needs to chill," Spencer muttered under his breath.

"Hey guys!" Jack grinned.

"Yeah, hi," Zander said back. "Listen, we need to ask—"

"You guys would not _believe_ what happened over the weekend!" Jack interrupted excitedly, not hearing Zander. "I swear, you guys better thank me for this!"

"What happened?" Spencer asked, doing a great job at masking his disinterest. Despite being much more calm and levelheaded than his brother, he wanted answers from Jack as much as everyone else.

"I convinced Cici to go on a date with you!" Jack's grin grew bigger before faltering for a second. "Okay, not really. She said she would think about it, but that's better than saying no, right?" He smirked at the wide-eyed look Spencer was giving him.

Spencer's mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. "You... You... What?! I mean, what?! You did what?!"

"You heard me, now go down on your hands and knees and kiss my feet!" Jack spoke triumphantly. "I finally got you moving with this crush of yours! Even your brother failed to do that!"

"I'm standing right here," Zander muttered irritably, purely annoyed at the fact that Spencer was now distracted. For once, he was completely disregarding Spencer and Cici's relationship.

Spencer rushed forward and wrapped his arms tightly around Jack. "Oh my god! Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouth ankyou!"

"Uh, brother? You might wanna let go of him before he dies of asphyxiation," Zander spoke up, noticing Jack's face turn an uncomfortable shade of blue.

Spencer obeyed somewhat sheepishly. "Right. Sorry about that."

"No, no, it's...it's cool," Jack coughed, rubbing his neck, his skin gradually going back to its normal color. "Just...don't do that again, alright? That wasn't the most pleasant experience."

"Yeah, okay, that's cool. You set up a date for the two of us?!" Spencer squealed girlishly. "That's so amazing!"

Zander glanced at him warily. "You do realize that Jack added that she hasn't exactly said yes, right? Who knows, she might turn you down."

"I don't care about that! All that matters is that she didn't immediately say no! I officially have a chance!" Spencer whooped and jumped up and down.

Zander sighed and put a palm to his forehead. "You're embarrassing. How did I get stuck with you?"

Jack chuckled at the banter. "Quite harsh to say that about your own twin brother, don't you think?"

Zander glared at him. "Hey, look at him right now, and tell me, would you want him as your twin?"

Jack looked over to Spencer, who was now lying on the floor making snow angel motions, completely ignoring the weird looks other students were giving him. Needless to say, the boy seemed to be in paradise. _What, _Jack couldn't help but deadpan in his mind. Out loud, he admitted, "Okay, having him as a brother does seem to be a little tiring. Good luck with him. You're stuck with him for the rest of your life."

Zander sputtered and opened his mouth to say something, only for the bell to cut him off from whatever retort he was about to shoot.

"There goes the bell," Jack commented. "I'm gonna just go and head on inside. I'll see you at lunch, and I'll see your brother inside. That is, if he sobers up enough to come on inside." He said that last sentence with a teasing smirk gracing his lips, but he didn't wait for Zander to say something back before going in.

Spencer had calmed down enough to realize that he was still out in public, so he stood up. Noticing his brother shooting daggers at him, he asked, "What's up?"

With his eye twitching, Zander asked through gritted teeth, "Do you _not _remember what we were about to ask him before he told you about Cici?"

Spencer frowned for a second, trying to recall. "Oh yeah, about the grave we all saw on Friday, right? Sorry, it slipped my mind. Did you ask him while I was..." He coughed. "...lying on the school floor?"

His eye twitching even harder, Zander shakily answered, "No... I wish I had..." He raised his voice, "But your little scene _distracted me_!"

"Gee, sorry, drama queen." Spencer rolled his eyes, holding his arms up in defense. "Whatever, this isn't a problem. It's not like we've seen the last of Jack today. And besides, even if we don't get the chance to question him about it, we still have Cody and Anton to help us." He whipped his phone out. "I'll text them right now, just to remind them." He swiftly tapped the letters, and sent the messages.

Zander took a deep breath in order to calm himself. "Okay... You're right... At least one of us should have one lead by lunchtime. We could talk about what we found out then."

"Sounds good to me."

* * *

Zander slammed his lunch tray down on the table loudly, and immediately asked, "So what did you guys find out?"

Cody only ignored his question, and deadpanned, "Could you be any noisier?"

"Just freaking answer me!"

"Find out what?" Anton inquired in confusion. He genuinely seemed to not know what Zander was talking about.

Zander looked at him incredulously. "Isn't it obvious? I'm talking about Jack! You guys _did_ ask him about what we saw on at the cemetery, didn't you?"

Cody and Anton shared a glance with one another. The former spoke, "I thought you and Spencer were supposed to ask him about it this morning before class."

"We couldn't though! We never got the chance!" Zander turned on Spencer. "I thought you texted them!"

"I did!" Spencer shot back, taking his phone out.

"Well I don't know about Cody, but I didn't get anything." Anton shrugged.

"Yeah, me neither," Cody added.

"Are you sure you sent them?" Zander asked Spencer.

"Yes! I don't know why they didn't get them! I even made sure I didn't test the wrong people!" Spencer shouted, his perplexity increasing.

Zander suddenly seemed to remember something. "Oh, wait. You never did find out, did you?"

"What?"

"Last week, I decided to play a prank on you and I switched all the names in your contacts," Zander explained, catching on. "Sorry, I thought you knew already and switched them back."

Spencer looked utterly horrified. "What?! You—" He frantically scrolled through his texts. "You have got to be kidding me! You mean all the messages I've sent during the last week were sent to the wrong people?!"

"Kinda, yeah."

"Oh, so that's why you sent that really weird message to me over the weekend?" Anton asked, holding up his own phone. "You texted me asking whether or not I did the laundry yet, because you were running out of clean underwear."

Zander began laughing, and even the corners of Cody's mouth twitched up slightly for a fraction of a second before he resumed his normal poker face.

"That was supposed to be sent to my mom!" Spencer cried defensively. He glared at Zander. "See what you did!"

Zander shrugged, completely unrepentant. "Your fault for being too slow to realize the problem."

"Wait, what happened?" Jack questioned in confusion, having been standing by the table for the past fifteen seconds, lunch tray in hand.

"Oh hey," Anton was the first to say. "Didn't see you there. Nothing, Zander just messed with Spencer's phone."

Jack sighed and sat down. "Figures." He looked towards Cody. "How's therapy going?"

Cody shrugged. "Just the typical therapy session."

"You've been going to therapy?" Anton piped up, having not known that previously. "Since when?"

"...Since I came back to school," Cody deadpanned, giving Anton an unimpressed expression. "Why do you act like you didn't see that coming? Don't people who attempt to kill themselves usually have to receive some sort of psychological treatment?"

"Well I'm just saying, you never brought it up—"

"You mean I have to bring up everything for you? You can't make any obvious assumptions? Okay. I had buttered toast for breakfast, I picked at a scab on my elbow while walking to school, and I hate everybody, as I always have."

Anton bit his lip, trying to hold back a snarky retort that would surely result in another one of their blowups. Luckily, Zander took care of that.

"Will you guys shut your mouths for once?" he bit out irritably before turning back to Jack. "Anyway, all of us want to ask you something."

Jack nodded. "Sure. What's up?"

"Okay, so on Friday, all four of us were at the cemetery—please don't ask why—and we saw—"

"Hey Jack, I need to talk to you about something in private." Cici suddenly appeared and tugged on Jack's arm. "Do you have time?"

"Oh yeah, sure." Jack set down his fork and wiped his mouth with his napkin before getting up. "Sorry Zander, can't answer whatever question you have for me right now."

When he and Cici were out of earshot, Zander's knuckles whitened as he clutched the edge of the cafeteria table. "You guys have no idea how badly I want to shout at Cici right now..."

* * *

"What's wrong? You look troubled about something."

Cici rubbed her left arm with her hand rather tentatively. "Remember when we talked over the weekend? And I said that I _might_ accept that date offer?"

"Uh huh?" Jack had a slight hunch on where this was going.

"Well... Don't hate me for this, but I'm starting to have second thoughts..."

Jack groaned exasperatedly—he wasn't annoyed with Cici, he was just frustrated that this was taking too long without any progress. "Cici, listen to me. Spencer is a big wuss, and he's way too timid for his own good. But other than that, he's a really good guy overall. What's there to be so hesitant about?"

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" Cici snapped. "It's not my fault that I'm not used to this kind of stuff. I have absolutely no experience with guys liking me. If you had some girl head over heels in love with you, wouldn't you be uncomfortable too?"

Jack winced at that last part. "Please don't remind me of what I go through everyday here at school..." He definitely didn't need to think about all those crazy, not-so-secret admirers he had any more than he already did. "Could you wait here for just a second?"

He ran back inside the cafeteria, and as fast as he could, stormed over to where his friends were chatting and roughly grabbed Zander's arm. "You! I need you! No excuses!"

"Hey!" Zander protested as Jack dragged him unceremoniously outside. "What's the big deal?!"

Jack motioned towards Cici, who was still standing there patiently. "Convince her that there's nothing to lose in asking out Spencer! She's being overly tentative!"

Zander stared at him flatly. "_That's _the reason why you're acting like there's a fire?"

"I thought you liked them together."

"I do, but it's not worth going back in there and grabbing me like I'm your baby boy." Zander sighed and turned to Cici. "But he's right about you. You're being way too careful. I can guarantee you that Spencer's not a bad guy. He's an idiot, but he's not a bad guy. How would you even know what to expect from him if you're not even going to give him a chance?"

Cici exhaled a long breath and gave in. "Fine. If you'll stop pestering me about this, then fine. One date. Just one. Then I'll decide whether or not I want to go out with him more often. Happy now?" She didn't wait for an answer, as she began trudging back into the cafeteria, muttering something imperceptible.

"That was quick," Jack remarked. "How come it takes me so long and it only took you a couple sentences?"

Zander gave him a smug smirk. "'Cause I'm awesome."

"I'm not buying that, because you're not."

Zander pushed him playfully. "Oh, quit being so cranky. This isn't an intense soccer rematch, so you don't need to be such a sore loser about something as superficial as this." He began following Cici back inside.

Jack rolled his eyes, and hurried to catch up to him. Walking behind him, he shot back, "Really? 'Cause I can really picture you saying the same things I said if the roles were reversed." With that being said, he returned the shove.

Zander yelped and fell forward. Cici looked behind her just in time to see him fall into her and she toppled over like a domino. Jack, having accidentally pushed too hard, only stood in shock as his two friends landed into a very awkward position on the cafeteria floor.

Chatter in the entire cafeteria died down as all of the people in there diverted their attention on to the heap of two embarrassed teenagers. Zander, noticing this, feigned a cough. "Well... This is humiliating."

He nervously looked up to see the last thing he wanted to see. Spencer was still at their table staring down at them, but his scrutiny wasn't what made Zander squirm. It was the hurt, betrayed expression that became clear on his face that was so disturbing. Cody and Anton had turned both their gazes away to look at Spencer in concern (Well, at least Anton was. Cody only looked like he was trying to decide whether or not to show concern).

Zander realized that he wasn't moving from his position so he quickly scrambled up off of Cici before his own brother could tackle him in a fit of rage. "Spencer, it's not—"

"It's not what?! It's not what I think it is?! Yeah right, I'm not stupid!" Spencer yelled angrily, getting his voice back. "How could you do this to me?!"

"Spencer, come on—" Anton tried to calm him.

"I didn't do it on purpose, Jack just—" Zander began to say, but stopped and hesitantly looked back at Jack, who had guilt plastered all over his face.

Unfortunately, Spencer only misinterpreted the lack of explaining from his brother and laughed bitterly. "You were the last person I expected to pull something like that on me. Whatever, it doesn't matter anymore." He stood up began trudging out of the cafeteria.

Cici tried to stop him. "Spencer, wait—"

She was ignored, and Spencer left. The silence in the cafeteria ended and what had just transpired was forgotten by everybody else.

"Is it just me, or do somehow our particular group of friends end up causing a scene in this cafeteria a lot more than other people?" Cody finally spoke up.

"Even though that's completely beside the point, he's right," Anton agreed.

Jack dragged himself over to the table and sat down, his face in his hands. "Oh my god..."

* * *

"So I'm finally done with the banner you wanted from me. How is it?"

Jack snapped out of his reverie and looked at Christine, who was holding the banner she had promised she would make for him. "Oh. It's... It's great," he said halfheartedly. The banner really was quite admirable and gorgeous, but his mind was still on the events at lunch.

Christine frowned. "You're acting weird. Is something wrong?"

"Hm? Oh, uh, it's nothing. Really." He cursed himself for not making himself sound like he meant it.

Christine was visibly skeptical, but she disregarded it and headed off to sixth period anyway. Soon after, Spencer came in, and the look on his face said that he still wasn't too happy. A few seconds later, Zander entered, looking at his brother helplessly.

"Zander," Jack called him and went over to him. "How's your brother?" he asked in a low voice, sneaking a glance at Spencer.

"I'm pretty sure you can tell just from looking at him," Zander answered.

Jack winced. "Right. Hey, are you mad?"

Zander pretended to not know what he was talking about. "Mad? What? Why would I be mad?"

Jack only gave him a disbelieving stare, not buying it for one second. "Zander! I'm being serious!"

"Of course not! You're a good guy, I could never be mad at you!"

Jack's expression turned flat at that. The idea of his friend being mad at him wasn't exactly new to him, as he remembered what happened when he was still crushing on his ex-girlfriend.

"...Okay, so maybe I am, but only a little," Zander admitted, then crossed his arms. "Pushing me onto Cici wasn't the coolest thing I've seen you do, man."

"I only asked you if you were angry, not if you could say that last part out loud and push me deeper into my guilt trip," Jack muttered.

"But you know, I think I'll spare you the cold shoulder this time around," Zander continued. "Knowing you, you'll do your best to fix this. I just hope you'll be able to pull it off."

"Hell yeah, if nobody else is going to make things right, then I'm so doing it," Jack stated.

"Alright, that's nice." Zander walked off and approached Anton. "Hey. You know that confrontation with Jack that we've been talking about all day?"

"Yeah, what about it?" Anton questioned.

"Spencer's furious with me right now, and I need to fix this." He paused. "Or Jack's going to fix this, whatever. It's just that my brother's broken heart is more important to me than some stupid graveyard mystery at this moment. So maybe we should hold that off until I clear things up with Spencer. You mind telling that to Cody for me?"

Anton shook his head. "No, it's fine. I'll tell him."

"Good."

They'd have to take care of this huge misunderstanding first.

**I'm sorry for the crappy ending, but I couldn't think of anything better. I tried, really.**

**Ugh, I promised you guys I would have faster updates for you, and I have yet to carry them out. The summer laziness is getting to me terribly.**

**And guess what? Still no Baby Tooth. And still no Wynter. Ugggggghhhh why**

**I'll keep replies as short and simple as possible because I want to hurry up and post this thing (Nah, they're going to be long. Just see for yourselves):**

**Guest: Yes, they will find out. That's a promise.**

**RandomKrazyPerson: My mom's 57, and even though I can't say she loves animation films, she does watch and enjoy them XD Especially the ones made my Blue Sky Studios.**

**Frosty3.0: Nah, I don't get **_**that**_** many. And I guess that it would be a great scene to have Jack show off his martial arts skills. Not necessarily to Samson, but yeah.**

**feathered moon wings: "The" chapter isn't this chapter (obviously) or the next one. More like the one after that. And I promise you, nobody remembered Anton's hair color before I brought it up. It was only mentioned like one time. And in case anybody reading this is curious, Samson's blonde.**

**GirlInTheShadows: No, it's fine. I'm sorry, I just get really carried away sometimes. If it bothered you, you should've said so earlier. I don't bite...most of the time :P But anyway, I'll tone down on the language, but I don't think it's possible for me to stop completely, mostly because you know about my OC Cody and his extremely rotten mouth, and it would be a little out of character if he suddenly stops yelling out a string of curses when he gets angry. But I'll try my best to use it less, and I'll even try to see if I could use the more minor words that people take less seriously.**

**Randomness: ...Shark. ((I don't know how to make a shark oh god sorry))**

**MadlyMagical: When do you get out of school? Unless if you're out already, of course. And Americans don't make big deals out of Asians (except for all those dumb racists out there). They just like to point our ethnicity out. They like to point it out **_**a lot**_**. I'm Asian too, and so far, everyone I know who has pointed it out meant it to be taken lightheartedly.**

**akizaki14: They're probably watching...Ted? I don't know, most likely not.**

**Lovepuppy316: Sure, use this as proof to prove that Pitch is a stalker. It's a long story, but I also have this headcanon that Jack is a pedophile and has a fetish for sixteen year olds. I don't know how old you are, but if you're sixteen, then I apologize.**

**DjinnAtwood: Hellish Quatuor is good too. Now I have a hard time deciding between the two names. ((There's fan art of Anton if you're interested))**

**Ynona: Annnnnnnnd slow update XD And I understand the Warm Bodies thing. I actually just went to go see Now You See Me today and what I pictured it to be like wasn't exactly the same. But it was amazing and I still loved it to death nonetheless. As for all my ideas, I've used most of them. There are a couple that have been moved to the sequel though. Maybe I'll scrap one or two.**

**Blue Torpedo: I don't know, my friend used the term Gary Stu once and I just started using it, so.**

**Dude: HAHA I WIN. Nicholas Hoult was amazing as R. I love his hair.**

**Tutankhamunfreak: Oh please, I never review at all XD So Cody's your favorite OC then? You've probably already caught on to this, but I love him to death as well. And don't worry about the comment thing, I didn't feel any pressure by it.**

**Dream Theme: I'm glad to see that my fanfic lightens up my readers' mood :D Honestly, what am I going to do once this and the sequel is over?**

**Writeous: Correction: It'll be four chapters in between the graveyard discovery and the actual confrontation. Yup, I'm satanic. ((Hey Mermaid Man, where's Barnacle Boy?))**

**FashionablyHospitable: Then let TV Tropes ruin my life then. My life is already ruined by stuff on FFN.**

**Hatsu Yukiya: Croutons :3 The truth is, I was tempted to write this paragraph of Cody and Anton sharing these croutons Anton bought and having eye sex while doing so. See, this is what you shippers do to me XD**

**Yami's Devil: Patience, young one.**

**...I told you this would be long. Alright, now review!**


	34. In Which Jack Hits Cody With a Book

**I'm just going to say this before I forget—MaddieSeth on deviantArt has agreed to make a comic version of this entire fanfic. She hasn't uploaded any pages yet, but she's working on it.**

**Oh yeah, and speaking of deviantArt, I have to give a shout-out to my writing bro Hatsu Yukiya, who also did some fan art on her account HatsuNeru. So to check that out, because it needs some love.**

**One more thing: There's going to be a bit (Okay, it's actually A LOT) of bad language here, but only because Cody ends up cursing up a storm (twice), and if he didn't do that, he would be horribly OOC. And Jack ends up sneaking in a profanity as well (GirlInTheShadows, I'm so sorry). That is all.**

Jack agitatedly paced around the living room, throwing glances at the house's front door every five seconds or so. Jamie and Monty were sitting on the sofa, on the laptop and working on a biology project together. Jamie's biology textbook was lying open on the coffee table.

Jack groaned put both hands in his hair. "Ugh, where are they?! What's taking them so long?!"

"Why's he so jittery?" Monty asked Jamie. "He was like that already when I came."

"He called a couple friends to come over because he had this 'important business' to take care of," Jamie explained, inserting air quotes and not taking his eyes off of his laptop screen. "I don't know what's going on, but something probably happened with him and his friends. Again."

"You wanna know what happened? Okay, I accidentally ruined Spencer's life! I pushed his brother onto his potential girlfriend today at lunch!" Jack told them irritably. "And now I feel guilty to my stomach because now he's furious with Zander when it wasn't even his fault in the first place!"

Jamie and Monty only stared at him for a second, before the latter piped up, "I thought that kind of stuff happened only in media."

"Well clearly, it happens in real life too!"

Jamie stood up. "Alright, you need to calm down a bit for a second. If they're really taking this long, then maybe they just have trouble locating our house. I mean, the only friends of yours that have ever come over are the twins and Christine. It takes time finding the right address for a place you haven't been before."

At the end of this spiel, pure horror became etched onto Jack's face. "Oh..."

"You..._did_ tell them our address...right?" Jamie questioned, not willing to believe that Jack was this stupid.

"Uh... _Shit_," Jack swore loudly before whipping out his phone and seating himself on the edge of the couch. He dialed a number in, and put his cell to his ear.

Baby Tooth, still sitting on his shoulder as she always did, only rolled her eyes at his density.

Jamie raised an eyebrow. "You have gotta be kidding me."

"Has he become a regular cusser nowadays?" Monty brought up.

"Hey, Anton!" Jack laughed guiltily, once the receiver on the other end picked up. "How's the search for my house coming along for ya?"

Anton began to shout, loud enough so even Jamie and Monty could hear clearly. _"I'LL TELL YA HOW IT'S GOING FOR ME! YOU DON'T BOTHER TELLING ME AND CODY YOUR ADDRESS AND SEND US ON A HOUSE HUNT! WHAT THE HELL, MAN?!"_

Jack winced and held his phone away at arm's length, mouthing to the two middle schoolers in the room something concerning a "fiery redhead." Once he was sure Anton was done screaming at him, he put it close to the side of his head again. "Okay... Listen, I'm sorry. Wait, how do you even know the same thing happened to Cody?"

Anton had lowered his voice, so nothing he said next was audible to anyone other than Jack.

"Oh, so you guys ran into each other on the way here? That's convenient."

Jack's eyes widened at what was spoken on the other end next. "Cody wants to say something to me? No, wait, don't put him on the line—"

Anton apparently had ignored his pleas (clearly because he was still a little annoyed with him) and given the phone to Cody because the next thing that came was a rant that was even louder than Anton's earlier outburst.

_"YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE! DO YOU FUCKING KNOW HOW LONG I'VE BEEN STUCK WITH MR. SON-OF-THE-FUCKING-PRINCIPAL HERE, WANDERING THESE FUCKING STREETS?! FUCKING 45 MINUTES, THAT'S HOW LONG!"_

_"He's the _vice_ principal!" _Anton could be heard saying in the background.

Jack quickly held the phone away from his eardrum once more, thinking that he should've just settled with Anton's venting after all. He looked at Jamie, who now had both eyebrows raised, and Monty, who only had a priceless expression of, _What kind of friends have you been making._

Jack, realizing that Cody had finished his vulgar scolding, put the phone to his ear. "Like I said to Anton, I'm sorry! Excuse me for being the dumbest living being on earth, but it just slipped my mind that you guys have never been here before! You know, because I've been to both your houses before and stuff..."

_"THAT DOESN'T INDICATE ANYTHING! JUST LIKE BEING CALLED GAY DOESN'T MEAN YOU ACTUALLY SUCK PEN—"_

"WILL YOU TONE DOWN THE OBSCENITIES?! THERE ARE CHILDREN HERE IN THIS HOUSE AND THEY CAN HEAR YOU!" Jack finally hollered back. _Let's see how you like it when someone screams into your ear._ He paused before adding, "AND THAT ANALOGY YOU WERE JUST ABOUT TO MAKE WASN'T EVEN REMOTELY SIMILAR TO THE WHOLE HOUSE THING!" He breathed out hard through his nose before calming himself down. "Anyway. Do you want the address or not?"

Cody finally decided that yelling wasn't going to get him nor Anton anywhere, because whatever he said next was much quieter.

"You called Zander and got the address from him? Alright, that's cool. Wait, if you already know the address and are presumably on your way here, why are you cursing at me?"

_"BECAUSE I WOULDN'T HAVE NEEDED TO GO TO SUCH TROUBLE IF YOU WOULD'VE JUST FU—"_

Jack hung up before Cody could squeeze in one more swear word. He turned to Jamie and Monty, and stated, "If either of you repeat anything that guy on the phone just said, I will end you."

"Oh, don't worry. I've already gotten used to profanities because a certain someone tends to be a hypocrite and yell out curse words all the time," Jamie only deadpanned back.

"What? Who is it? Dear god, please tell me it's not any of your friends," Jack said, not catching on to who Jamie was talking about.

Jamie slapped his forehead, while Monty remarked, "That hypocritical humor is surprisingly hilarious."

"Who were those two guys you were talking to anyway?" Jamie inquired.

Jack shrugged. "Oh, just some classmates. I'm pretty sure you've seen them whenever you go over to the high school. Remember that redheaded guy that I hang around with sometimes and that really dark guy who always broods?"

"Oh, them? Yeah, I remember them. The dark one scares me a little though," Jamie confessed. "Let me guess, was it him who was dropping F-bombs all over the place just now?"

"Yeah. And before they come here, I just feel like I have to warn both of you that those two don't really get along with each other. At least, just not all the time. And their fights can get a bit out of hand, so you might want to keep your distance once you feel like an argument is about to surface," Jack advised. "Trust me, I've literally been stuck between one of their fights before, and it's not pretty."

"These guys sound suspiciously similar to these other two guys in this YouTube video Claude dared me to watch," Monty commented. "They were out in the hallway, and it was full fifteen-minute footage of them arguing up a storm! Words got pretty profane, now that I think about it."

"...They _are_ those two guys," Jack told him. "They actually argued for hours on end, and missed class while they were at it."

Monty stared. "Wait, are you serious?"

"What video? I wanna see the video," Jamie piped up, feeling as though he should be let in on this YouTube thing as well. He finally sat down again and opened a new tab on his Internet browser. "What's the thingy called?"

"'Two High Schoolers Scream at Each Other,' I think," Jack informed. "Monty's right, the argument gets pretty vulgar, but at the same time, it's so entertaining."

"Found it!" Jamie announced. "Do you two want to watch it again?"

"Sure!" Jack immediately scooted over to them.

"We should really get back to our project—" Monty tried to protest.

"Aw, come on, Monty! It's only fifteen minutes! And it's not like it's due tomorrow or anything," Jamie argued.

Monty gave in. "Fine."

Jack turned the volume up. "Things are kinda quiet at first."

They only got to watch a little over two minutes of it before a fourth voice spoke from behind them. "What's that?"

Jack yelped, somehow irrationally thinking that there was a burglar in the house (In hindsight, he couldn't really see how a burglar could raid someone's home in broad daylight, let alone ask what they were watching), grabbed Jamie's textbook and whirled around, whacking none other than Cody Gray right in the side of the head as hard as he possibly could.

Cody collapsed in pain, clutching his head. "WHAT THE FUCK, DUDE?! AH, GODDAMMIT! FUCK! FIRST YOU DON'T TELL ME WHERE YOU FUCKING LIVE, AND THEN YOU FUCKING HANG UP ON ME WHILE I WAS BUSY FUCKING TELLING YOU OFF, AND THEN YOU DO THIS! FUCK, THAT HURTS!"

"Is that his favorite word or something?" Jamie questioned.

Jack stood frozen as he realized that he had just smacked someone in the head with a heavy, hard book. "Oh my god..."

Anton suddenly appeared from the bathroom and took one glance at Cody, still uttering a long string of curses and having a firm grip on his head. He looked up at Jack and pointed at the boy on the ground. "Cody's blowing a fuse."

Jack nodded stiffly. "I know that."

"Why, did he see that video he wasn't supposed to find out about?" Anton asked rather offhandedly, seemingly not caring that Cody was currently in extreme pain.

"Yeah, but that's not really the reason why he's like that on our carpet floor right now," Jack answered, still staring at Cody.

"Why then?"

"I...may have taken Jamie's bio book and used it as a weapon against him."

Anton stared at Jack for a brief second before shrugging it off. "Oh, alright. Let me just say that if you had just given us your address in the first place, none of this would be happening right now."

"I believe Cody has given me enough of that over the phone already, thank you," Jack replied sourly. "And what's up with you guys suddenly here? I thought you would take longer...or at least knock first."

"Why would either of us bother to knock if we know someone's home?"

"...Because it's, I dunno, polite?"

"Well you weren't being too polite when you forgot to give us your address."

"Will you stop bringing that up already?" Jack snapped bitterly. "I was being stupid, I get it. But you don't have to keep reminding me every other second."

"Fine by me. Anyway, you left your door unlocked, so we both figured that you were totally cool with us just walking in like we did."

"I wouldn't have been okay with it if you were some sort of thief, like I thought Cody was when I smacked him."

"What kind of idiot would strut into someone's home during the day when they're not even sure if anyone's inside?" Anton questioned.

"I don't know, don't ask me!" Jack exclaimed in frustration, throwing his arms up into the air. "Look, I wrecked Spencer's heart, alright?! And I've been distracted by that whole thing at lunch for the past few hours! I didn't invite you guys over here just so we could have slumber parties!"

"Whoa, Jack, are you okay?" Jamie spoke up cautiously. It had been a while since he had seen Jack that jumpy.

"Just stellar," Jack quickly covered up, remembering that there were other people in the room. He turned to Anton. "Can we talk in my bedroom?"

By now, Cody had cooled down enough to reassure himself that the earth was still perfectly in tact, but was still lying on the floor for reasons unknown (probably because he found it comfy). He snarked up at Jack, "What're we gonna do in there? Hit each other with our textbooks until we pass out?"

Jack glared down at him. "You shut it. It was an accident."

"Oh sure, you accidentally swung a bio book at a small fly and ended up missing it and hit me instead."

"You dumped a milkshake on Samson's head and you're talking to me about false accidents?" Jack questioned.

"Samson had it coming."

"I never said he didn't. But how do you know whether or not you did?"

"Because I didn't wrongly accuse anyone of being bi," Cody pointed out.

"Can we just go to his room now?" Anton intervened, before this banter could continue on any longer. "Eleven-year-olds are staring at us." He motioned to Jamie and Monty, who were watching the three of them as if they were part of an intense soccer game.

"Thank you," Jack sighed and headed upstairs, followed by Anton and Cody, after the latter finally got up off the floor.

Once Jack closed the guest room door behind him, he dropped the nonchalant exterior he had maintained for the past few minutes (not counting his little outburst on Anton downstairs) and completely lost it. He grabbed Anton by the shoulders and shouted at the top of his lungs, "I AM A MORON AND I WANT TO KILL MYSELF FOR CAUSING THAT TENSION AT LUNCH TODAY!"

Anton blinked, then stated meekly, "If you're just gonna yell like that, I don't see why we headed up here in the first place. Those two down there are gonna hear you either way."

Jack groaned and let go of Anton. "Sorry, it's just that... I feel really bad about this, you know? Over the weekend, I went out of my way to convince Cici to give Spencer a chance, and today, I pretty much blew all my efforts. And now, Spencer and Cici are both depressed, and Zander's forced into all of this when it's really me who should be."

"If you feel this terrible about it, fix it," Cody told him, lounging on the beanbag chair the twins had given Jack for Christmas. "You've fixed everything wrong with everyone here so far, so I don't see why this time should be any different."

There was a minute of silence, before Jack asked, "You know that beanbag chair was fished out of the twins' storage and given to me for Christmas?"

"Is that why there's that huge piece of duct tape on the side?" Anton inquired. "It's not exactly inconspicuous."

"Yeah. I admit it's still a pretty comfy chair though."

"Why do the three of us keep straying away from what we're really supposed to be discussing?" Cody questioned. "Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that this situation isn't gonna fix itself. Somebody's gonna have to do something about it."

"But does it really have to be me who does everything?" Jack retorted. "Ever since I came to this school, I've been the one making sure nothing ever goes horribly wrong with anyone, and no matter what, it does anyway. But when things take a turn for the worse, I make sure it gets better. Like with you and Carrie, and you and Samson. And frankly, as much as it makes me happy to see that I have such a positive effect on people, I get sick of it sometimes. I just wish there was someone else who can fill my shoes for once." He sat down on his bed, face in his hands. "I have my own problems, but there's always something that I have to put before them..."

Cody and Anton shared a glance before the latter took a seat beside Jack. He hesitantly rubbed his back comfortingly before saying, "Listen... The reason why you're always the one who has to take care of everything is because you're good at it. If the rest of us try to fix something, we're undoubtedly just gonna make things even worse. But for some reason, you're different. Everyone can relate to you. It's like you're some kind of center for all the issues that exist in the world. And I have no idea why, but you seem to have gone through so much in the past. You understand things more than any of us ever could. It's like you've actually lived for the past couple of centuries instead of just eighteen years."

Jack flinched at that last sentence, noticing how true it really was. Then he was hit with a shocking thought: Did Anton know? He was pondering the answer to that when Cody got up off the beanbag chair and sat down on the other side of him.

"In this very rare moment of vulnerability, I really have to say that he's right. You're so much more experienced than all of us combined, and that's what's so intriguing about you. You try your best to be nice to everyone, no matter how they treat you. If I were you, I wouldn't have went to see me in the hospital, and I wouldn't have been so civil with Anton either. Someone like you in this world is hard to come across. I have no idea what these 'problems' of yours are, but if it helps, you could tell us. None of us are you, but you've done so much for us. We'll all try our best to understand."

Jack let his hands down slowly, and after a moment's hesitation, shook his head. "No. I can't. I...just can't. At least not right now. Maybe some other time..."

Anton nodded in understanding. "So. You want us to help you with Spencer?"

Jack managed a small smile. "Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that. So what should we do?"

"We storm over to their house and force him to listen," Cody immediately said. "Unless if either of you have anything better."

They didn't. So in the end, Jack decided that no matter how aggressive Cody's plan was, it was for the best. Spencer needed to understand what really happened at lunch, or Jack wouldn't know what to do.

Just like he didn't know what to do about his own secret. Once everyone's problems were resolved, including his own...what would happen?

**NO LINE BREAKS IN A CHAPTER FOR ONCE AWESOME**

**I don't know what this ending is. Recently I've been finding myself terrible at ending chapters.**

**Everyone was supposed to make up in this chapter, but then I decided that this was a good place to cut it off. Things will become okay next chapter.**

**And all of you are really going crazy about this confrontation thing... To that, I say IT'S COMING SOON.**

**Replies:**

**Faliara: No, it's more like Cici decided to try going on a date with Spencer, mostly because of Jack's persuasion, but then had second thoughts. It's complicated, I know. And they probably didn't talk to him over the phone about it because they felt that this was something they needed to talk to him about in person.**

**Anonfangirl: Sure! What fun thing should Jack do?**

**Lamae Martin: I personally think that Spencer really is stupid, no matter how sane he seems compared to the other guys. And Cici's pessimistic, while Jack's just pushy.**

**Dude: Hello, British person :D I heard that Nicholas shaved his head because he's filming this movie called Mad Max: Fury Road. No, it's not wrong to find it funny. I find it hilarious. And if you want to switch the contacts in your brother's phone, be my guest. It wouldn't hurt, you have nothing to lose XD**

**feathered moon wings: I actually didn't mention Samson's hair color at all in this story. I just kind of randomly decided that he should be blonde because none of the other guys are blonde. And Spencer's just an idiot.**

**Lovepuppy316: I like to think that Jack wears his hoodie like half the time. The other half, he's wearing what Mrs. Bennett bought him. Either way, he has a slight sense of fashion in his blood. He's never going to dress up as Justin Bieber or anything like that XD I wasn't really worried that it would offend you, I was just worried that you would end up being paranoid that Jack is watching you from the window :P**

**Cirruz the Night Elf: No, no! Keep reviewing, I like long reviews :D But anyway, don't worry about unprofessionalism. I've seen much worse. Much, much worse. And I don't like OCs either, at least not the Sue kind. And Ouran, yyyeeessssss. One of the best animes I ever watched. Even finished the manga.**

**Frosty3.0: I'm seriously considering it. Probably not here, but in the sequel.**

**lotsofdrama: oh stahp it you make me blush And no need to be embarrassed, because like half of these people came from one of Hatsu Yukiya's fics XD**

**Anaklusmos: I don't really know... I will update Fate eventually, but this story is currently my top priority. **

**Review~!**


	35. In Which CROSSDRESSING, MOTHERFCKERS

Zander pounded on Spencer's bedroom door. "Dude! Open up! This is getting ridiculous!"

There was no reply on the other side.

Zander sighed in frustration and leaned against the door. He stared up at the ceiling for a few seconds before knocking again, although gently this time. "Bro, come on... You're making way too big a deal out of this. Will you please just listen? You don't even know what really happened!"

Still nothing. Spencer was obviously refusing to listen to his brother.

Zander groaned and put his head against the wall. This was just a huge waste of time. _Man, my brother is such a moron..._

The doorbell rang. Zander sighed again before heading downstairs to open the front door. The familiar ding-dong echoed impatiently a couple more times before he reached the door. "Just wait for a second, will ya?!" he shouted irritably, hoping the person on the other end would hear him.

He opened the door to let whoever it was in, only to see that it was just Jack, Cody, and Anton. "Oh. It's you three."

Jack simply stormed in without a word, and the other two followed suit.

"Uh, come in?" Zander questioned before closing the door again. "What are you guys doing here?"

Jack ignored the question, turning to ask him quite forcefully, "Where's your brother?"

"In his room." Zander blinked, not used to seeing Jack this way. Anton apparently had the same thoughts, as he shared a similar blank expression. Cody, however, was smirking like there was no tomorrow.

Without hesitation, Jack hastily went up the stairs, taking two at a time. He approached Spencer's door, and pounded it with his fist. "SPENCER! Open up!"

"That's not going to work, no matter how loud you are," Zander called to him, going back upstairs, with Cody and Anton trailing behind him.

Jack growled, slapping his forehead.

"Here, let me try," Cody offered, stepping up. He hit the bedroom door even harder than Jack did, and shouted, "HEY! I went through shit today all because Jack's worried about you, so you better come out here or I'm gonna find a way to force my way in!"

A slight shuffling sound was heard on the other side, and then a voice cried out, "Will all of you stop trying to beat down my door and let me sulk in peace?! My broken heart will forever be unable to mend now that my own twin brother has betrayed me!"

Silence. Anton slowly put his hand over his face, while Cody turned his head to Zander and deadpanned, "Your brother is an idiot. No offense."

Zander raised an eyebrow. "I know. I'm surprised you never said that before now."

Jack crossed his arms, and said loudly, "Spencer, if you don't open the door right now, I'm kicking it down. I know martial arts."

No reaction from behind the door.

Anton gave Jack a _what-the-hell_ look. "Kicking down his door? Really?"

Jack shrugged. "Hey, it always works on Jamie when he starts brooding in his bedroom."

Cody shot him a disbelieving expression. "So kicking down his door is just a complete bluff?"

"Kinda, yeah. Why?" Jack asked confusedly.

"You do not, I repeat, do _not_ bluff, especially when it comes to kicking down doors. Bluffing makes you seem like a gigantic, old wuss," Cody scolded, his voice hard. "So you either kick down that door, or end up seeming like a quitter. Up to you."

"Cody, this isn't my house. I can't just break a random door!"

"Actually, you can. Our bedroom doors are pretty old anyway, and Mom's planning on replacing them," Zander piped up. "You can knock down that door as much as you want; I'll just tell her that I opened that door and it just broke off its hinges."

"Are you seriously giving him permission to vandalize your brother's door?" Anton muttered.

Jack sighed in defeat, knowing that Cody wasn't about to be dissuaded. "Fine." He took a couple steps back, focused on the door ahead of him, took a deep breath, and then ran forward and rammed his foot into Spencer's door as hard as he could. The door gave way and opened, dangling from its top hinge as the bottom one had broke.

Spencer, who moodily had his face on his pillow, looked up at the ruckus. His eyes widened. "Did you guys just break down my door?!"

"It's fine! Mom was gonna get rid of it anyway."

"But that was my _door_!"

Cody shrugged. "Eh, don't say none of us warned you."

Anton looked back at Jack, who hadn't come in yet. "Jack, you okay?"

Jack had collapsed and was now sitting on the wooden floor, clutching his sneaker and wincing at the pain he felt. "I should've worn my combat boots today."

"Well, you did manage to kick the door off one of its hinges, so good job despite the injured foot." Anton gave him a thumbs up.

"Yeah, whatever. Anyway, you and me." Zander motioned to himself and his twin. "We need to talk."

"What's there to talk about?" Spencer muttered bitterly, hugging his knees to his chest. "I saw what happened..."

"Oy, you listen to your brother right now unless if you want me to slap the crap out of you until you pass out," Cody threatened. It was clear to everyone else in the room that he wasn't kidding.

"You might as well relent, his slaps do _not_ feel good on the receiving end," Anton advised.

"Do I want to know how you know that?" Jack, who had stepped into the room, wondered.

"Likely not. It had something to do with freshman year though."

Zander had ignored all of this and stayed concentrated on Spencer. "So are you going to listen to me or not?"

Spencer didn't reply, so he took it as a yes.

"I didn't fall on top of Cici, okay?" Zander paused. "Okay, I did, but it was an accident! I didn't mean to tackle her and receive the attention of all the people in the cafeteria!"

"What happened was my fault," Jack piped up. "I kinda...shoved him onto her... But it was _not_ intentional, in case you get any more wrong ideas."

Spencer stayed mute for a few more seconds, before timidly saying, "So...nothing bad really happened...?"

Zander shook his head. "No."

"And there really was nothing behind that little position you two had going on...?"

"No, that's what I've been trying to tell you!" Zander said exasperatedly. "But you didn't wanna listen!"

"...That's it," Spencer announced, falling back down on his pillow. "I'm an imbecile."

"Yes you are," Cody and Anton spoke grumpily in unison.

Spencer turned to Jack. "Why do they seem grouchier than usual?"

Jack chuckled nervously. "That was kinda my fault too..." He now realized how often he screwed things up between the five of them. He silently admitted to himself that he wasn't exactly the smartest genius on the planet either.

"This whole explanation thing was much easy than I pictured," Zander commented.

Spencer sat up. "Wait, so what did Cici want to talk to Jack about?"

"It, um...involves that date I told you I convinced Cici to go out on with you," Jack explained hesitantly. "Don't get all sore over this, but she's feeling a little...pessimistic about all of this and she admitted to me that she felt like changing her mind about it."

"I convinced her otherwise though," Zander added in quickly, before Spencer could react. "Don't worry, you still have your chance."

"And yeah, about that chance..." Spencer laughed guiltily. "Can she be the one to ask me out?"

"_What?!_" Zander roared.

"I'm sorry, but after what had transpired today, I figured that I want to save my dignity so she should be the one to ask me!"

"Bro," Zander sighed, sitting down beside him on the bed, "are you telling me you'd rather risk her dignity than your own? That's no way to ever get her to like you back." He paused. "Besides, your dignity already left you when you had that little tantrum at lunch today."

Spencer glared at him. "Thank you for trying to help me, but you're not being very successful at it."

"Alright, here's what I believe," Cody cut in. "The guy should always be the one to ask the girl out. Why? Because girls are sensitive. Guys are not. If a guy asks a girl out and gets rejected, at least she'll let him down kindly. But when a guy gets asked out by someone he thinks is some sort of cheap prostitute, he's going to slam her into the dust, deciding that he'd rather go fuck his skanky mother than give the chick a chance. And depending on her personality, what she does to deal with the heartbreak varies," he stated that last part bitterly, his mind obviously on a certain something.

"...Is therapy helping you or not?" Jack questioned.

"It depends on my current mood and level of willingness. If I went to a session right now, then my therapist really can't do anything for me."

"Hopefully your therapist will also teach you about getting a girlfriend," Anton remarked. "Because I think you really need one."

"Excuse you, I will get a girlfriend when I feel like it, which is never."

"_Can_ you get a girlfriend though? Like are you able to?" Anton asked skeptically.

"What's that supposed to mean? Don't look now, but I can be hotter than your red hair. You just don't realize that, because we're all guys."

"Arrogant much?"

"Okay, okay!" Spencer interrupted in annoyance. "Fine! I'll ask Cici out on a date! Just anything to stop you two from going into this subject further!"

"But it was only getting entertaining!" Zander whined.

"You know Bo Robinson just came up to me today and told me that you were a cute couple?" Jack informed Cody and Anton.

Cody shot a look at Anton, then made a disgusted noise. "The fuck...? Piss off." He walked out of the room. "Goodbye."

There was a pause of silence between the remaining guys, then Spencer admitted, "You know, if you get past the foul mouth and the snarky attitude, Cody is pretty attractive."

Zander gave him a funny look, then shrugged it off. "As weird as that sounds, I see your point. He's probably around a...9.8 out of 10."

* * *

"I don't know..." Spencer apprehensively fidgeted with his fingers.

Zander fixed him with a hard stare. "Are you saying you're backing out? Again?"

"No! It's just that..._ You_ try asking out the girl you like and not have wobbly knees!"

"Spencer, it's easy! 'Will you go out on a date with me?' That's it! That's all you have to say! It's just a few words!"

"But the meaning behind those words is so hard to utter!" Spencer argued.

"What does that even mean?"

"Never mind."

Zander gave him a gentle push from behind towards the busily talking Cici, who was standing only about fifteen feet away. "Then just go!"

"But it's embarrassing!"

Zander gave him an unimpressed stare, then motioned to behind him. "Not as embarrassing as that, is it?"

Spencer looked over his brother's shoulder, only to spot Jack, Cody, and Anton in maid dresses standing a distance away. Anton was the only one glaring at the twins, looking peeved as hell. Spencer turned back to Zander. "...Why?"

Zander shrugged. "I may or may not have forced them into wearing those so you could realize that your situation isn't as humiliating as you think it is, especially when you compare it to theirs. So are you gonna do it or not?"

Spencer gave in. "Fine, I will!" He was about to take a step forward until he retreated and asked quietly, "Can you stand nearby in case I mess this up?"

"Oh my god, Spencer! You're only asking her out on one date, you're not on a secret spy mission! What could you possibly need me for in case you screw up?!" Zander groaned.

"I'm sorry! It's just going to be this one time! Please?" Spencer begged.

"Ugh... Fine," Zander sighed.

"Woo!" Spencer whooped and grabbed Zander by the arm and dragged him over to where Cici was. "Hey Cici!"

_Whoa, where'd this confidence boost come from?_ Zander wondered.

Cici turned around. "Oh hey! Listen, about what happened yesterday at lunch—"

Spencer waved it off, a huge grin plastered on his face. "No! No, it's fine, my brother explained to me what really happened already!"

"Of course, he refused to let me explain until his door got busted down," Zander muttered as a side remark, earning himself a kick in the shin from Spencer.

Cici blinked. "Oh. Okay then, that's good. So what did you call me for?"

"I called you because I wanted to ask you if you wanted to..." All traces of Spencer's momentary vigor had disappeared as quickly as it came. "To... To... To..."

"Go out on a date," Zander supplied expressionlessly for him.

"Yeah! Yeah, go out on a date! With me!" Spencer echoed in a squeaky voice, not regretting the decision to drag his brother into this at all.

"Uh, sure! When and where?" Cici asked.

"Um..." Spencer stammered.

"Friday." Zander helped him once more.

"Friday!"

"The movies."

"Yeah, the movies! That sounds good, right?" Spencer shot Zander a look of pure gratefulness.

"Yeah, I'm free after school on Friday," Cici agreed. "So right after the meeting?"

"Sure! Sounds perfect to me!" Spencer accepted. "So I guess it's a date then!" he added in quickly before hurrying back to where he and Zander were standing previously, with the latter in tow.

"What am I gonna do with you?" Zander sighed and shook his head once Cici was out of earshot.

Spencer, of course, ignored his question and was visibly trying to hold in a girlish squeal. "Can you believe it?! I actually did it!"

"Except I had to help you to the point where it's just ridiculous," Zander said, unamused. "Don't tell me you need my help when it comes to the actual date as well, right?"

"What? Psh, no," Spencer dismissed. "I'll be fine! Besides, it's the movies! We'll both be focused on the screen for most of the time anyway!"

"If you're going to the movies, I suggest going to see Warm Bodies," a third (and very flat) voice joined in. "It's a pretty nice romantic comedy... Jamie didn't like it, but I'm guessing that's only because he usually hates those types of genres."

The twins turned to the new speaker, who happened to be Jack still clad in his maid outfit. On each side of him were Cody and Anton. Now that they were all close by, Spencer could notice that Jack and Cody were carrying silver platters. Anton still looked peeved as hell, Jack looked like he was trying to hold in his rage, while Cody simply looked like he didn't care.

Spencer coughed awkwardly. "So you guys are still...dressed as maid café waitresses?"

"Your brother's fault," Anton said irritably.

"Can we change out of these now? Do you two not notice the mass of girls staring at us?" Jack pointed out. It suddenly became clear to the twins that there were a bunch of girls, including the dreaded Robinson triplets, all around the room sneaking glances and drooling at the three crossdressers.

"It's just a dress. Stop being pussies," Cody stated rather matter-of-factly.

* * *

"So how do you think Spencer and Cici are going?" Jack asked as he and his friends (except for Anton) walked home together.

Zander thought for a minute before replying, "Considering he hasn't called me half-sobbing about how he's epically failing, I'm assuming they're going alright."

"If he does end up calling you eventually, tell me all about it," Jack smirked at the possibility. Spencer's stupidity could really be amusing at times.

Zander gave him a scrutinizing side glance. "Yeah. Sure thing, man."

Jack was taken aback by the merciless stare. "What? What's wrong?"

Zander looked towards Cody, who was looking at him skeptically, as if to ask, _You sure you want to do this now? Without the other two?_

Zander turned back to Jack and shook his head. "Nothing important. Don't worry about it." He waved it off with his arm.

Jack looked tentative to believe that, but let it go anyway.

* * *

"Mom, is Spencer home yet?"

Mrs. Anderson looked up from preparing dinner and shook her head no. "I don't think so. He hasn't come in here."

Zander went into the adjacent room, and began to ask, "Dad, have you seen—"

"I heard you ask your mother in the kitchen," his father interrupted, not looking up from his newspaper. "No, he hasn't come in through the front door. Why?"

Zander sighed, having a worried feeling. "I just feel like he should be home by now..."

"Isn't he out with that girl he's liked for so long?"

"Yeah, but the movie they went to watch wasn't that long! He should've been home a long time ago!" Zander argued. "I have a really bad feeling..."

"Well if you're so concerned about him, then shouldn't you call him?" Mr. Anderson pointed out as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Zander paused, realizing that his dad was right. "Oh yeah. I should probably go do that. Thanks, Dad." He ran up the stairs to his room, and shut the door tightly behind him. He immediately picked up his cell from the bedside table and punched in Spencer's number. He held it to his ear and patiently waited for his brother to pick up, only for it to go to the answering machine. He decided to leave a message and said, "Spencer, it's me. Look, I'm probably being this huge worrywart right now, but can you _please_ pick up? Just so I can make sure everything's fine? Because you're taking awfully long to get home. Alright, so call me back once you hear this. Bye."

He sat on his bed for a few more minutes, glancing at his phone every few seconds, expecting it to ring. Still feeling dissatisfied, he dialed in a different number, nobody picking up this time either. Again, he left a message and said, "Cici? Cici! Where are you and Spencer? Come on, pick up! Your phone is always on, you can't not be picking up either, right? Come on, what's going on?"

Hanging up, he heaved a sigh and lay down on his bed. _Cici never misses any calls she has... Or maybe my phone just isn't working. _He sat up again and called a third number. When the person on the other end picked up, Zander spoke, "Oh, so my phone isn't broken or anything like that. Okay." He got more serious and he then continued, "Anton, I think Spencer and Cici are missing. Pick up Cody, and I'll get Jack. Don't ask, just do it."

He hung up before Anton could answer and went downstairs. His father looked up from the paper he was reading and asked, "Well? Did he pick up and explain himself?"

"Huh? Oh. Yeah, he did," Zander lied, deciding it was best if neither of his parents knew about Spencer possibly being missing until he could be sure about what was going on. "He said he and Cici decided to get dinner before coming home."

"Really? That's funny, he usually makes sure that we all know what he's up to before any one of us can worry, like you did just now," Mr. Anderson remarked.

"...Well," was all Zander said. "I'm going over to visit Jack. I won't be gone long. If Spencer gets home, tell him to call me."

* * *

"Alright, so what's this about exactly?" Jack asked, stifling an exhausted yawn. "I was busy napping when you suddenly came and pounded on the front door."

"Well clearly you were doing something along those lines," Zander retorted. "Why do you seem so tired anyway?"

"Mrs. Bennett thinks that you should always treat guests as polite as you possibly can, no matter how dumb they are," Jack began begrudgingly. "So those stupid twins took advantage of that and got me to do a bunch of stuff that I didn't need to do all around the house when I got home earlier!"

Zander looked at him weirdly. "Excuse me?"

Jack realized how misleading his statement sounded, so he explained, "I'm not talking about you and Spencer. Jamie has these two friends who're twins like you. For the record, they can be the stupidest people I have ever met sometimes."

Zander raised his eyebrow. "Ah, I see."

No more than a few seconds later, a car zoomed by and parked right near the curb. Cody, with a lollipop in his mouth, got out of the passenger door, and immediately questioned Zander, "Alright, what's the deal? The vice principal's son just visited me at my house and told me to get in the car like he's some child kidnapper, saying something about how your idiot brother and his future girlfriend are missing."

"I was just doing what he told me to do," Anton defended as he approached them.

"Yeah, that's what you told me too," Jack added. "What's going on, Zander?"

"Okay." Zander took a deep breath. "Spencer should've come home like hours ago but he hasn't. And when I tried calling him, he didn't pick up. I tried the same thing for Cici, but she didn't answer either. And I've known Cici for years, and the girl has never missed a call before in her life."

"...And? That's it?" Anton deadpanned. "Zander, I think it's nice that you care so much about your twin brother, but I don't think you should just jump to conclusions that he's disappeared off the face of the earth. Both their phones could be dead, for all we know. And they probably just decided to go somewhere else."

"Don't you think I know that?" Zander snapped. "I don't know why, I just have this gut feeling that something's wrong. Come on, can't you just drive around town and see if any of us can spot them? Burgess isn't that big of a town anyway."

"...Are you in a mental asylum or something?" Cody finally asked.

"Possibly, none of you will ever know, because I won't bother telling you," Zander shot back. "Come on, guys, please? I'll never ask anything from any of you ever again if you just do this one huge favor for me."

Anton sighed. "You're not gonna give up, are you? Fine, I'll take you around town. My craving for dinner didn't matter anyway."

"Yeah, I'll go too," Jack volunteered. "I'm gonna trust your gut feeling for some reason. I don't easily go around doing that, but I guess just this one time will be okay."

Cody nodded. "I need a ride home anyway. Don't think I believe your theory on this whole missing business, because I don't. I'm just gonna tag along just for the hell of it."

"Okay, so we're all in," Anton concluded. "All of you get in the car."

Jack and Zander seemed to realize something in unison, because they both shouted impulsively, "NO!"

The other two only looked at them weirdly.

Zander, deciding that he wasn't about to chicken out after finally convincing everyone to help him find his brother, only sighed for the millionth time that day and rubbed his temples. "Anton...would you mind driving slowly this time around? So we can have time to scan the sidewalks and stuff?"

Anton blinked, not getting at why Zander was asking this, then said, "Uh, okay. Sure."

"What's the matter with you two?" Cody asked as he opened the door and sat in the passenger seat. "You make his driving skills seem like the equivalent to hell."

As Zander and Jack buckled up in the back, they only shared a look with each other.

* * *

They couldn't find the two missing people in the end. As Anton parked at Zander's curb, the remaining twin got out of the car in a daze. "That...was even worse than I imagined."

Jack got out after him, looking just as uneasy as him. "I feel as if I'm beginning to actually get used to all that reckless driving. It's always worst the first time."

"You two are weak," Cody scoffed as he and Anton also exited the car. "My dad drives like that all the time."

Jack looked at him warily. "I don't believe I've met your dad before."

"You didn't. He and Mom got divorced not long after Carrie killed herself. He lives back in Philadelphia and visits like once or twice a year."

"Alright, let's focus on the matter at hand here, shall we?" Zander brought everyone's focus back to the current problem. "My brother is _still_ missing. Do you guys now see why I'm worried? Neither of them are anywhere to be found!"

"Alright, slow down," Anton said. "He might be back in your house now. You know, he might've gotten home during the time it took us to go all around Burgess."

"If he really is back in the house, then it's nice to know that the whole trip was a complete waste of time," Cody commented.

Zander shook his head. "No, I told Dad to tell Spencer to call me whenever he got home. And my phone is on, before you ask."

"Well the only place we haven't checked is the nearby woods." Anton mentioned, motioning in the direction of the woods. "As ridiculous as it sounds, maybe he's there?"

"I really doubt that. My brother's been afraid of the woods ever since he learned how to walk. He says it gives off a creepy vibe or something like that." Zander rolled his eyes at the memory.

"I don't know, he seems pretty into Cici. Maybe she convinced him to go into the woods for some unknown reason," Cody supplied.

At that moment, Jack felt as if he heard talking, but he disregarded it.

"Why would he do that?" Zander was questioning.

"I don't know."

"We could still check anyway," Anton persisted.

Jack was sure he heard talking this time, and it definitely wasn't coming from any of his friends. He looked around, catching the attention of the other three.

"Jack, something wrong?" Zander asked.

Jack merely ignored him. The talking was getting louder, which meant the speaker was getting nearer. A few seconds later, none other than Giorgio and Giovanna appeared, much to Jack's horror until he remembered that nobody else could see them. "Uh, guys? You keep on discussing, I need to go over there for a bit," he said, still staring at both Cupids, who had finally noticed him in return.

He hurried over to them and whispered loudly, "What are you guys doing here?!"

"What? We're not just limited to Valentine's Day," Giorgio retorted contemptuously. "People fall in love all year round, you know."

"But still, you just strolled here casually like you guys aren't—" Jack sighed and put a hand to his face. "Never mind."

"Oh yeah! The two of us were actually just looking for you earlier," Giovanna informed. "We saw something that you might want to know about."

"What was it?"

"We saw the Boogeyman," Giorgio delivered bluntly. "In fact, we saw him abducting these two teenagers."

Jack was silent for a minute. "...What," he finally deadpanned disbelievingly.

"Believe it or not, it's true," the male Cupid insisted. "I know you guys usually focus on the younger kids, but then me and Giovanna were just flying above when we saw the Boogeyman appear in front of these two teens, and he talked to them for a bit and then just knocked them unconscious with his nightmare sand stuff and took them away, presumably to his lair."

"Well, he seemed more like he was talking to the girl only," Giovanna added. "The boy looked more confused than anything, so my best guess is that he couldn't see Pitch."

Jack had grown increasingly pale during all of this. "You... You can't be serious..."

"Hey Jack! You okay over there?" Anton called over to him.

Jack turned around to see his friends all staring at him like he was crazy. _Oh right. They can't see them. They must think I'm losing my mind or something._ He turned back to the Cupids. "Well... Thanks, you two. But I really need to be getting back to my friends now."

The two Valentine's Day spirits finally got a good look at Zander, Cody, and Anton. "...The one wearing black is hot." Giovanna blushed.

"GIOVANNA!" Giorgio yelled in exasperation.

"I'm sorry! I can't help that I'm a true romantic at heart! I'm still engaged to Jack, don't worry."

"I'M NOT ENGAGED TO YOU!" Jack shouted before clamping his hands over his mouth. He nervously looked at his friends, who were now giving him the weirdest look ever. He turned back around and smiled wryly. "I'll make sure to tell my friend about your opinion of him. Bye." He went back to his friends. "Sorry, guys."

"Who the hell were you talking to?" Zander asked right away.

"No one any of you need to know about." Jack turned to Cody. "By the way, Cupid thinks you're hot."

Cody did a double take. "...Excuse me?"

"I don't know. Anyway guys, I need to go to the woods." He ran off.

"Whoa, whoa! Wait up! Where ya going?" Zander called. He and the other two ran after him.

Jack didn't acknowledge Zander's question, if he had heard him at all. He ran into the woods, past the numerous amounts of trees, until he reached the clearing he knew all too well. The first thing he noticed was the wooden bed in the middle. It had been destroyed the last time Jack saw it, so he had no idea how Pitch had repaired it.

"Hey!"

Jack turned around to see his three oblivious friends running over to him.

"You just ran off like that," Zander panted. "What's the matter? What's going on?"

Jack hesitated, then said, "I think I know where Spencer and Cici are. But I think I should go get them by myself."

"What? Why?!" Zander exclaimed. "Spencer's _my_ twin brother! It's only right if I go too!"

"Zander, you don't know what you're up against! None of you do! Spencer and Cici aren't just lost in the woods or something superficial like that! They're in trouble! In deep trouble," he added that last part quietly.

"To hell with the trouble! This just isn't right, Jack! You can't go alone to find them! I won't let you!" Zander spoke fiercely, not willing to give up anytime soon.

"You can't! _You just can't_!" Jack shouted at the top of his lungs. His voice echoed across the entire area. "You just can't..." he continued, not speaking any louder than a whisper.

This whole time, Cody and Anton looked back in forth, not knowing what to do with this sudden dispute.

Zander stayed silent for a moment, then said calmly, "You don't have to do everything, you know. The rest of us are capable too. So why won't you let us?"

"Like I said, you don't know what you're up against. This isn't your fight, Zander. I'm sorry," Jack said sincerely. "I wish there was some other way, but—"

"That's not what I meant. I meant why won't you let us know what you're hiding. We've been friends for months, and you know everything about all of us...so why do we know nothing about you? You never tell us anything." He looked at Jack straight in the eye. "Just who are you? _What_ are you?!"

**Aaaannnnnnndddd I'm cutting it off there. Sorry. Ah, cliffhangers. They're the only non-crappy way I can end chapters.**

**Not too many replies this time, because my time is limited. I need to go to bed soon. **

**feathered moon wings: You psychic person. Yes, Spencer will yell. He will be the angriest out of them all.**

**DakotaxJackieGirl: Hm, the snowball fight seems interesting. Except that I'm not sure if it'll snow anymore now that it's like February in the story, and apparently snow doesn't fall too much when Jack's not around. And you'll see the play. Don't worry.**

**Julchen M. Liddell: (Guys, this is actually Hatsu Yukiya. She changed her username) Goddamn right, he's your spirit animal. Now you need to finish up your part of the deal (or bribe. Whatever).**

**PeterPokefreak: Thank you for the insightful review, it pleased me a whole lot. Anyway, for the sequel, I can assure you that Jack's not just suddenly forgetting for no reason at all. Something will indeed happen. (By the way, check out Julchen M. Lindell's fics, they're the best)**

**lotsofdrama: I don't know, I just picture them as real people, I guess.**

**Review! **


	36. In Which Jack Admits Everything

**For the record, it was so amusing seeing you lot scream/cuss at me. **

**On the other hand, I don't like it when reviewers keep on begging me to update multiple times everyday. I read every single one of my reviews, and even though I'm forgetful at times, there is no way I would let this story slip my mind. So please, don't rage at me when you wake up to see that the next chapter isn't up yet. I'm neither a magician nor a superhero, so you can't expect me to whip out a chapter whenever you want one.**

Jack's eyes were wide and his mouth was open, trying to find words but couldn't. "How... Why—" was all he could force out.

"We were at the graveyard, okay?" Zander filled in for him. "We saw a tombstone that had your name on it. Not to mention we also saw your sister's too. Jack, what the hell is going on?"

"...You'd think I was screwing around even if I told you," Jack finally mumbled. "You just would."

"Jack, just tell us," Anton intervened. Jack had honestly forgotten that he and Cody were still here. "It can't be that bad, can it? You're gonna have to tell us sooner or later anyway."

"You know, the longer we keep talking about this, the longer Spencer is missing!" Jack pleaded, doing a poor job at attempting to get the sudden, unwanted spotlight away from him.

"Jack." Zander's tone held finality in it. "Just what is going on?"

Jack began to stare down at his own feet as if they were suddenly the most interesting objects in the universe. Finally, he looked up, and confessed, "O-Okay. I admit that I've been hiding something huge from you all. And I guess you do need to know about it. But... Do you guys promise to believe me?"

"My brother is missing and presumably in that hole under that weird bed thing, and not just that, but it's become pretty apparent that the grave the rest of us saw really does belong to you," Zander pointed out dryly. "Try me."

"Fine..." Jack gulped. He was sure that he wasn't going to hear the end of this from anyone. "Okay. For starters, yes, I have a grave at the local cemetery. And yes, that other one was my sister's. The reason for that is because we...kinda lived back 300 years ago."

"That explains the dates on them. Okay, continue," Zander pressed for more, somehow not really surprised by the revelation thus far.

"My sister had the chance to grow old and that stuff. I, on the other hand, drowned in the lake when I was still eighteen. And then I got resurrected by the moon—long story—and became...well, Jack Frost."

"...Come again?"

"Guys, all these childhood legends like Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, they're not just myths, they're really real!" Jack began to hurriedly say, not letting any of his friends soak it all in first. "All of them are! They stand to protect children all around the world! And I'm one of them! I'm that Jack Frost who goes around spreading snow all across the country and—"

He stopped immediately once he saw the other three all taking one step away from him. "Guys, I'm being serious here!" They only took another step back.

Jack sighed irritably and ran a hand through his hair. He just knew that their reactions would be something along these lines. "You guys said you would believe me."

"Correction: Zander was the only one who said that," Cody deadpanned.

"Hey!" Zander shouted, not happy that they were throwing him under the bus. "Yeah, I said that, but I didn't expect his story to be _this_ insane!"

"I know it's insane, but it's a hundred percent true!" Jack insisted. "Come on, guys. Have I ever seemed like I've lost my mind before? And you know me well enough to know that I don't have it in me to make up something so crazy. I mean, if I were to lie, I most likely would come up with something less...creative."

"Look, I'm not saying I don't trust what you say. But this is just too hard to believe! I mean, can't you prove it or something?" Zander asked.

Jack was quiet for a moment, then gave Zander his frankest answer. "Zander, you're right about Spencer and Cici being down there." He motioned towards the wooden bed. "And I know I can't stop you from going down there with me. But if you don't believe what I'm telling you right now, you literally won't be able to see what you're up against."

Baby Tooth, who had been strangely silent for the past couple of weeks, chirped to herself worriedly, not liking where this was heading. She got off of her perch on Jack's shoulder and flew off as fast as she can, determined to get help. Her departure was unnoticed.

Zander hesitated, then sighed in defeat. "Okay. Okay, I'll believe you. But only because it's you. If it were anybody else, I would never even think that they're telling the truth. You better not be lying, alright?"

"I swear to god I'm not," Jack insisted. He turned to the other two. "I'm guessing you two are coming along as well?"

Anton scoffed. "Why wouldn't we? We're not standing out here doing nothing when you guys are down there possibly digging a deeper hole for yourselves."

"One condition though—Can I beat the shit out of the kidnapper?" Cody inquired, now holding a very large stick in his hands.

"That stick isn't going to be much help when beating up the Boogeyman, Cody," Jack stated.

"What do you know about sticks?" Cody shot back, undeterred.

"So you're saying that the Boogeyman's the bastard who kidnapped my brother?" Zander cut in. "That sounds really..."

"Hilarious? Yeah, I know," Jack flatly said.

"As hilarious as it is, it does make sense," Cody pointed out. He approached the bed and lightly kicked it. "Why else would there be a bed here?"

The bed completely collapsed, many of its pieces falling down the hole. Cody looked at the other three, who were now staring in horror at him. "It was a shoddy bed."

Anton nodded slowly. "Right."

Zander went over to where Cody was standing and peered down the hole. "That's a really high jump down..." He gulped.

Cody rolled his eyes. "Stop being a pussy." And then he jumped down into Pitch's lair.

Jack blinked. "Did... Did he just..."

"Apparently," Zander answered stiffly, still staring down the uncomfortably deep orifice.

"Um... Someone should probably make sure he's okay," Anton piped up, getting ready to jump in next. "I'll make sure to land on my feet, before you start worrying." He took a deep breath and hopped in, which was almost immediately followed by a thump and a yelp that sounded a lot like it belonged to Cody.

"Oh my god, dude! Sorry! You okay?"

Cody didn't answer.

"...Oh crap. Come on, say something just so I know you're okay!"

"...Just get the fuck off of me already."

"...Yup, you're okay."

Jack hesitantly glanced over at Zander, who now seemed even more apprehensive. "...So who should jump in next?"

Zander only exhaled a shaky breath. "I'm terrified of heights. Obviously."

Jack sighed. "Alright. This is gonna look really weird, but grab onto me."

Down in Pitch's lair, the disgruntled Cody brushed himself off after Anton had got off of him, then picked up his stick, which he had dropped when the other boy fell on him unceremoniously. "Alright, so where do you think Spencer and Cici are?"

"Don't you think we should wait for the other two to get down here first?" Anton objected.

Cody rolled his eyes. "And have Zander yell at us for just standing here? No thank you. Besides, you saw how nervous he looked when he realized he was going to have to jump in. Who knows how long he'd take?"

Anton opened his mouth to argue, but closed it again once he acknowledged that Cody had a very valid point. "Alright, but—"

"GAH!" Zander and Jack suddenly came down from above together at the same time, and Anton swore that it looked like Zander was holding on for dear life to Jack. These suspicions were confirmed, as once Jack landed, his knees collapsed from under him severely and he fell forward, throwing Zander off his back.

"Hey guys," Zander greeted, peering up at Cody and Anton. He glanced back at Jack. "You okay?"

"Uuuuuugggggghhhhhhh..." Jack groaned. "That one's gonna hurt in the morning. Why did I even offer to do that..."

"Well get up," Zander commanded, standing up himself. "We're not gonna find Spencer and Cici at this rate!"

"Ungrateful little..." Jack grumbled, then managed to get himself off the ground. "Okay, okay, I'm up."

Without any second to waste, Zander began to frantically search for the missing people. He ran around the entire hideout, desperately calling out his brother's name. "Spencer! Where are you?! Cici!" He looked at the other three. "What are you guys standing around there for?! Help me look for them!"

"Zander, do you really think that calling for them is just going to make them show themselves? This is Pitch—the Boogeyman—we're talking about here, he most likely has them locked inside a nightmare or something, so I doubt it," Jack informed.

"Zander?" a tentative voice called out, just loud enough so Zander could hear. He traded the owner of the voice to the far side of the room, where a lot more shadows loomed, and he hurried on over there.

"Spencer? You there?"

A head poked out from the inside of a cage, significantly larger than the others, dangling from the ceiling. Although he couldn't get a good look at him because of the angle he was at, Zander, much to his relief and joy, recognized the figure as Spencer. "Spencer!"

"What are you guys doing here?" Spencer questioned in horror, not happy at all. "You shouldn't be here!"

"Yeah, neither should you!" Zander retorted. "What's going on? You okay up there? Is Cici with you?"

"I'm here!" a female voice, undoubtedly Cici's, spoke up. "I'm okay! Spencer is too!"

Zander shot a very smug and triumphant look at Jack. _You were saying?_

"You guys all need to get out of here!" Spencer was saying. "Before you end up being locked up too by that crazy man!"

"We're not leaving without you!" Zander said sternly, turning back to his twin. "What would Mom and Dad say?"

"So is that the only reason you're trying to rescue me or..." Spencer muttered. "Thanks, brother. I appreciate your love."

Zander grinned crookedly before sobering up again. "So who is this 'crazy man' you're talking about?"

"Probably the really creepy one coming out from the shadows right now," Anton interrupted, visibly disturbed and clearly staring at something.

Zander followed his beeline and saw a six-foot-tall man with grey skin and dressed in a long, black robe. "Whoa... Yeah, that's really creepy."

Pitch regarded him with slight amusement and mild surprise. "Well, I must say, I definitely was not expecting little Jack Frost to pop by my hideout with a bunch of innocent mortals." He glanced at Jack with utter scorn in his eyes. "I assumed that he would appear alone."

"Pitch!" Jack shouted. He almost charged at him, momentarily forgetting that he was currently without powers. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Pitch asked nonchalantly, examining his left hand's fingers. "Kidnapping your dear friends? Luring you here to come save them? Exposing your true identity to them? I admit, I have been watching you for quite some time, and I am honestly shocked at how long you've kept the ruse up."

"What I tell them and what I don't tell them are none of your business!" Jack growled. "I have enough crap to deal with without you coming to bug me!"

"And why should I care about that?" Pitch smiled and retaliated, clasping his hands behind his back. "That only encourages me to continue. Nothing amuses me more than seeing your suffering. After all..." His smile turned more sinister. "...you are powerless. And both you and I know that you can't do anything when you're in this state."

Jack faltered, knowing full on well that this was true.

"I wonder what all the other spirits think...along with your fellow Guardians...?" Pitch continued his spiel. "Never before has there been an immortal who has turned human again... What will you do? Where will winter go? ...Will the Man in the Moon simply give up on you and choose someone else to take your place?"

Jack winced. He knew this was not true; Manny would never give up on him. He was a Guardian, and the Man in the Moon did not give up on any Guardian. However, that didn't mean Jack liked hearing those words flying out of Pitch's mouth. He clenched his fists.

"You're not even able to fulfill your Guardian duties... How shameful. You're just a powerless Guardian, Jack. You've been one for months. I don't see why you're still hoping you'll get back to normal. So why don't you just realize that it will not happen?"

Jack was about to tell Pitch to shut the hell up and get back into the shadows before he punched his lights out, until a new voice chimed in, "You're ugly."

Pitch, taken aback by the sudden commentary, looked at the new speaker. "Excuse me?"

"You're ugly," Cody repeated. "You have that triangular face going on and shit. It looks weird."

"Um... Are you aware of who you are talking to?" Pitch asked, starting to become a little annoyed.

"Yeah, the Boogeyman. Jack kinda gave all of us his two cents on you when we were standing outside your lair," Cody replied, unfazed. "You're less scary than I pictured though. And I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but you're ugly too. And you're a dick for trying to tear Jack apart like that. Just saying." He shot a look at Pitch's attire. "Nice dress, by the way."

"It's a robe," Pitch spoke through gritted teeth, growing increasingly irritated.

Cody snorted. "Yeah, like that's much better."

Pitch hissed and backed away into his shadows. A second later, Cody whirled around and whacked him in the face with his stick. "Oh yeah, and you need to work on sneaking up behind your enemies. It was pretty obvious what you were trying to do when you went back into your shadowy comfort zone."

Pitch, now lying on the floor, only moaned and rubbed his cheek. "You'll...pay for that..." He tried to get up, only for Cody to smack him a second time.

"When you're not even scarier than me? Yeah, right."

"This is funny," Zander snickered.

"Um... So considering Cody apparently can take care of the Boogeyman on his own...could you guys let me and Cici down from here?" Spencer reminded everyone of their current predicament.

"Yeah, it's starting to get really stuffy," Cici added.

"Sure, um..." Zander looked around. "...Once we find a way to get you guys down..."

"I will not be letting either of them down, if you're thinking about asking me," Pitch supplied, beginning to stand up before Cody struck him down again.

This time, Cody wasn't letting up easy on Pitch and began hitting him with his stick over and over again. "What! Do you! Not! Get! About me! Being able! To kick! Your! Ass! Just! Stay! Down! Already!" He punctuated each sentence fragment with a whack at Pitch.

_If he has absolutely no problem with doing that to the embodiment of fear itself, then what's gonna stop him from doing the same thing to me? _Anton wondered, with an expression of worry clear on his face.

"You alright?" Jack asked him, noticing his troubled look.

"Y-Yeah... I'm totally fine..." Anton's eye twitched.

Jack sighed. "Baby Tooth, how do you think we should get Spencer and—" Jack stopped abruptly once he realized that the little fairy was missing from his shoulder. "Baby Tooth?" He looked around, wondering where she had flown off to.

"What?" Zander questioned, going back over to him.

"One of the Tooth Fairy's assistants," Jack explained. "She's been going around everywhere with me, and..." He was starting to grow concerned. "Baby Tooth?!" He glared at poor Pitch (who was still getting beaten) and pointed an accusing finger at him. "What did you do to her this time?!"

In between Cody's blows, Pitch somehow managed to scowl. "What are—OW!"

"Shut up!"

A familiar chirping noise filled the air and Baby Tooth quickly zoomed down into the lair and immediately went over to Jack.

"Baby Tooth! There you are!" Jack let out a relieved breath that he didn't know he had been holding in. "Where have you been?!"

Baby Tooth began to excitedly point behind her until she caught sight of Cody smacking Pitch around. She eyed both of them weirdly and turned to Jack for answers.

He shrugged. "So apparently whenever Pitch disturbs the peace, we could all count on Cody to take care of it. I don't know."

Then, a large vehicle of some sorts suddenly flew down from above and descended. Jack was glad to recognize it as the sleigh, and once it properly landed, North immediately jumped out with both swords ready for combat, alongside Sandy with his whips. "PITCH!"

Bunnymund's dizzy head appeared from inside. "Ugh... Why..."

Tooth flew out and frenetically attacked Jack with a flurry of words. "Jack! Are you okay? Baby Tooth came over to us and said that you were about to go into Pitch's lair! Without your powers! What were you thinking?!"

Jack flashed a look at Baby Tooth. "So that's where you went." He turned back to Tooth. "And Tooth, I'm fine! Nothing went wrong! My, uh...friend took care of Pitch already."

Tooth redirected her attention to Cody and Pitch. North and Sandy, who were all too prepared to beat the stuffing out of the Nightmare King, also stared. Cody, however, didn't notice anyone, too distracted in his enjoyment of taking it all out on Pitch.

Bunnymund was the only one who could muster up words had the unexpected yet amusing sight. "Did we miss somethin', mate?"

Jack shook his head. "Nope," he answered flatly.

"Uh... Dude..." Anton nudged Jack.

"Huh? Oh yeah. Guys, these are the Guardians, North, Tooth, Sandy, and Bunny. And these are Anton, Zander, and..." Jack eyeballed Cody for the millionth time. "...Cody."

Zander and Anton both waved awkwardly. "Hi..."

"What? Oh. Yeah. Hi," Cody said briefly before resuming his activity.

"Hey guys." Cici waved from above. "Fancy meeting you again."

"Yeah, yeah, nice to meet you. But could you please get us down from—wait, what? '_Again_'?! What do you mean 'again'?!" Spencer's head snapped in Cici's direction.

"Okay, so I may have kind of known about Jack's secret already..." Cici confessed somewhat sheepishly.

"WHAT?!" Spencer, Anton, and Zander shouted in unison. Cody wasn't listening.

Jack chuckled nervously. "Uh huh. Yeah, she's right. Sandy, mind getting both of them down? Now would be a good time..." He paused as Sandy flew up on his sand cloud to free Spencer and Cici. "And I think your point got through to him, Cody. Get off."

Cody shrugged and got up off of Pitch, who groaned in pain. "Whatever. It was fun while it lasted."

"Entertaining to watch too," Zander smirked before whirling on Jack. "Now what's this about Cici knowing before us?!"

"Yeah!" Spencer exclaimed as he got down from Sandy's cloud. "And why didn't you tell me?!" he scolded Cici as an afterthought.

Cici rolled her eyes. "Would you have believed me? Besides, I had to keep quiet."

"Can all of us just go home now?" Jack sounded almost like he was begging. "I'll explain everything along the way."

"Very well," North agreed. "Everyone climb onto sleigh."

Pitch raised his head up weakly as everyone climbed aboard. "You won't...be getting away...with this...so easily... You...cannot...leave yet... How dare you... You are all...shameful..."

Cody's head slowly turned to him, just as he had one foot stepping into the sleigh.

"Oh no," Anton, who was already seated, muttered, starting to get where this was going.

"You do not understand," Cody began, setting his foot back on the ground again. "You do not understand how to live in complete acceptance of oneself, and to be able to accept motherfucking defeat with no shame. I motherfucking did not attempt suicide just to come back and have bitches tell me when I couldn't leave on my own goddamn time. If you tried to make me not go on that fucking magnificent mode of transportation, I would go down to the local Qdoba, round up all the Mexicans, then proceed to come down here again and have each and every Mexican FUCK YOU IN THE ASS. I am Cody motherfucking Gray, and I will get the bitch ass out of this fucking lair because you and your shit are far from fucking fabulous and there is no cuntfucker on the planet with enough authority to tell me otherwise. I will get out now and look like a hot as hell cumslut doing it, just because I could. I do not know the concept of shame. It dissolves in my very presence. Fuck yeah, end, bitch."

During this entire rant, Cody had slowly approached the Boogeyman and pointed his stick, which he was still holding on to, in between Pitch's eyes rather menacingly. Pitch went cross-eyed, and even though he would never say so out loud, he was actually _frightened_ of this particular high school student.

Satisfied, Cody dropped the stick and turned around to go back to the sleigh. Zander was laughing and applauding, Jack was choking like he was doing a poor job at stifling his laughter, Anton stared at Cody disturbingly, and Spencer only sighed and shook his head.

Jack, sucking it up, turned to the horrified Tooth and remarked, "I'm sure you're now thinking that my mouth isn't so bad after all."

Tooth didn't respond and just looked like she was about ready to faint.

Cody sat at the edge right next to Anton, and noticing the look the latter was still giving him, snapped, "What?!"

Anton shook his head and mouthed, _Nothing_.

"Okay, drive," Cody ordered North.

The dazed North snapped the reins halfheartedly and the sleigh began moving. As they flew out of Pitch's hideout and all of the teens began pelting Jack with a bunch of questions about his Jack Frost identity, the leader of the Guardians couldn't help thinking,_ I somehow have feeling that the Boogeyman title should belong to someone else..._

**Yes! Finally finished this, and on time! This chapter is a present to Hatsu Yukiya/Julchen M. Liddell! Happy birthday, Julia! (Speaking of Julia, thank you for the original rant about maid dresses. Writing Cody's speech was fabulous XD)**

**Sorry for the slightly OOC Pitch.**

**Guys, check out the list of fan art at the bottom of my profile. I am very pleased with all of it.**

**Also, I made a Tumblr roleplay blog. Basically it's like a Q&A between you guys and my OCs (Their answers are purely amusing), so go check that out as well. The link to it is in my profile as well.**

**And for the first time in a while, I got a new poll on my profile. Go vote.**

**Replies:**

**Faliara: Hatsu/Julchen was the one who suggested the chapter title to me XD It's going back to In Which Jack... though.**

**Julchen M. Liddell: Happy birthday again! :D**

**feathered moon wings: Yeah, I should make a little POV of that, shouldn't I? Haha, maybe sometime in the future. **

**Writeous: Lucky 800th... Add that onto my list of reasons on why I should just hurry up and finish that oneshot I owe you D: AND THE CHAPTER TITLE PATTERN IS COMING BACK**

**lotsofdrama: :{) Mustache smile back to you! And no problem!**

**MadlyMagical: Check out the Cody fan art at the bottom of my profile. I'm sure you won't be disappointed (I know I'm not). And thank you!**

**GirlInTheShadows: I apologize for Cody's rotten mouth.**

**McVitie: THERE YOU ARE, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, WOMAN. Heehee. Now all we have to do is get KokoLolo to join in...**

**akizaki14: In this chapter :P**

**Randomness: Jack's been leaving his staff at home lately though. Not that he needed it anyway, considering Cody's stick was the perfect substitute.**

**Review!**

**P.S.: I don't usually bring up really serious stuff that is completely irrelevant to FFN, but here's what I have to say: I have never watched Glee before in my life, but I just want to say that I'm truly sorry about Cory. The news of his death has been blowing up all over the Internet, so I feel like I should mention it because I know a lot of people watch and love Glee and must be truly saddened by this development, and to be honest, it's affecting tons of people who aren't even in the fandom as well (including me). In case any of you are Glee fans, I hope this chapter cheered you up a little. #RIPCoryMonteith #PrayForLea**


	37. In Which Jack Causes Beautiful Crouton

**I find it funny how all of you were impressed by Cody's rant, even though I had credited Julchen for coming up with it in the first place. So you should really be impressed by her instead.**

On Monday morning at school, the first words out of Zander's mouth once he saw Jack were, "Friday night wasn't a dream, was it?"

Jack raised one eyebrow in amusement. "Uh, no. That is, unless if you're talking about something other than venturing down into the Boogeyman's lair and witnessing Cody beat said Boogeyman up."

"Once we got back home, Zander went up to our room and just lay down on our bed, muttering to himself," Spencer chuckled. "He's more surprised by this than he seems."

"You were the one who started yelling at him like no tomorrow during the ride home!" Zander retorted. "You were going on about how he should've told us earlier and how that would've saved all of us a whole lot of trouble!"

"It wasn't pleasant being yelled at," Jack admitted. "But it's understandable. I can get why you would react that way." He turned to Cody. "By the way, nice job on whacking Pitch up. You're like the only one I know who would do that. Most people would just get the hell out of there instead of threatening him with Mexicans." He smiled at the memory.

"He's not scary though," Cody objected. "Not to me, at least. He needs to brush up on his skills if he's seriously gonna allow himself to get smacked around by me."

"Of course he doesn't scare you," Anton pointed out. "For the record, you're scarier than him, so it would only make sense if—" He stopped once he saw Cody's glare. "What? Would you prefer to be called less scary than him?"

"I'd prefer it if you didn't compare me to him at all."

"Whatever, you totally whooped his ass!" Zander laughed. "That's something I would pay to watch again! I mean, all you used was a stick! A _stick_!"

"You know, it's pretty hard to actually be scared of him, especially if you were ten years old when you ventured into your older sister's bedroom and saw her unexpected corpse dangling from the ceiling."

Stunned silence followed Cody's remark.

"What?" he asked.

"...Nothing," Jack finally answered, exchanging a look with Spencer.

"Anyway," Anton began, trying to get the suddenly tense atmosphere to go away, "I didn't find Pitch that scary either. I honestly find Cody with a buzz cut more frightening."

"Oh yeah, I remember that!" Zander piped up, snapping his fingers. "The day you first came here! You had that buzz cut going on!"

"Why yes, I am grateful for your loving consideration to remind me of freshman year because it is apparent that I don't possess the ability to remember these things myself," Cody said dryly.

Jack stared. "Wait, you had a buzz cut?"

"The second Anton brought it up, I just knew you would ask."

"No, I just...can't picture it," Jack said frankly. Cody currently had a full head of black hair, not to mention some fairly long bangs, so a buzz cut was rather hard to imagine.

"It was like a few days before my first day here, and I was at the park when some little shit decided to put gum in my hair," Cody sighed. "I didn't really give two fucks about it once I calmed down, so I just buzzed it all off. I let it grow out again over the years."

"You had a class with me in ninth grade, and I remember when you walked in, you looked really weird," Anton added. "It didn't suit you."

Cody gave him a glare. "Whatever. It grew out again, didn't it?" He began walking away, presumably to his own locker.

"There are better ways to handle gum in your hair, you know!" Anton called after him.

Cody neither turned around nor stopped, but he held up one middle finger as he was strolling away.

Anton turned back to the others in exasperation. "Remind me again why we have a better relationship nowadays?"

Jack grinned. "Quit acting like that's a bad thing. The progress in your relationship has its benefits. Like I don't have to go home everyday with a migraine anymore."

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha right," Anton deadpanned. "But seriously, I don't remember how we even managed to make that progress."

Zander shrugged. "I don't know, the power of croutons?"

* * *

"I'm home!" Jack called as he closed the door behind him. Wynter immediately came over and meowed at him as he set his backpack down on the ground. He crouched down and ruffled the fur on top of her head. "Now who let you inside the house?"

Jamie came hurrying over from the other room. "I was feeding her for you, but then you came in and she just darted inside. Sorry."

"No, it's fine. Go put her back, alright?" Jack picked Wynter up and handed her over to Jamie. The younger boy began to walk in the direction of the backyard, and after a moment of thinking, Jack followed him.

"You're going tomorrow, right?"

Jamie glanced up at him. "Going where?"

Jack frowned. "The performance at the middle school tomorrow night! You know, my...project?"

Jamie's face lit up with realization as he put Wynter down outside, then shut the screen door. "Oh yeah! Yeah, I'm going. All my friends are too."

Jack nodded in approval. "That's good, 'cause I need to get all the support I can get from you guys. Just the thought of talking in front of an audience has been giving me the jitters lately."

"Oh, that's normal." Jamie waved Jack's apprehension off. "Pretty much everybody gets stage fright at least once in their lives."

"Jamie, I've been alone for three hundred years, so I'm still kinda new to facing so many people at once. I'm sure what you guys feel can't compare to what I feel," Jack pointed out, unconvinced.

Jamie rolled his eyes. "Trust me, you'll do fine."

"Still though. Support?"

"Sure, I'll support."

* * *

At the middle school the next night, it was utter chaos in the amphitheater. The entire performance art class was rushing to get things in order before the curtain went up. McCarthy was busy taking advantage of her authority to direct everyone on costumes, timing, and whatnot—and was thoroughly enjoying everyone's submission towards her.

"Do I really have to wear this dress?" Cody complained to Jack as he held up his costume for Pitch. Lowering his voice, he continued, "I thought it looked weird enough already, but meeting the actual Boogeyman kinda made me regret taking on his role."

"It's not a dress, it's a robe," Jack said back. "Dresses and robes are completely different articles of clothing."

Cody rolled his eyes. "Like I said before, that doesn't make it any better. Besides, he's all talk and no action, which is what I hate most about him. Just the thought of portraying him makes me cringe."

"Come on, Cody! It's just this one time, and I promise I won't force you to act as him ever again!" Jack persisted. "Besides, it's not like I can change your role at the last minute."

"Didn't you offer me that role as the Tooth Fairy once I came back to school? Any chance of switching my role to that?"

"...Are you serious? I was kinda fifty percent joking on that."

"Just answer the damn question, Overland."

"I ended up giving that one to Cici. Both you and I know that already."

Cody sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, true. I just want to seek out every option there is before I'm forced to put on this stupid outfit."

"You don't have to put it on right now, you know. If you're a fast changer, then you could wear it at the last minute for all anyone cares," Jack suggested.

Cody seemed to be satisfied with that possibility, because he simply walked away at that moment, probably to put his costume back on the rack.

"Yeah, you're welcome," Jack muttered under his breath.

"Hey Jack. We have a slight problem," Anton told him, approaching him with McCarthy in tow.

"Sure, what's up?" Jack looked up at McCarthy. There wasn't a day when he wasn't the problem solver, so how bad could it be?

"Did you and Anton forget to prepare an opening introduction?" McCarthy inquired, looking quite displeased yet still managing to keep her professional persona up.

"...What?" Jack croaked out. _Oh dear god._

"You know how they do it on television, don't you?" McCarthy asked him. "Like on Ellen...or the Oscars."

"I don't watch TV!" Jack defended himself. How was he supposed to know that when he clearly had no experience with this sort of stuff?

"Well, you two need to prepare some witty opening in order for you to attract the audience's attention," McCarthy instructed. "At this point, I don't really mind what you do or say, but keep it appropriate and G-rated." Without waiting for an answer, she clacked off on her heels.

"'Appropriate and G-rated'?" Anton echoed irritably. "What's that supposed to mean? It's like she's actually worried that we'll pole dance for our intro."

"Sometimes pole dancing is the perfect choice when it comes to desperate measures," Jack grumbled back, sinking to the ground. "I can't believe we forgot our opening..." He glared up at his friend. "And you! Why didn't you remind me?!"

Anton looked taken aback. "Hey! Don't go pinning all the blame on me! Okay, so I can get a little forgetful at times, but it's not like you remembered either!"

"You heard me back there, I don't watch television! I don't know how this stuff works!" Jack lay down on his stomach and put his hands to his face, getting into the exact position he was in when he and his friends were holding auditions. "We're screwed..."

"You...tend to get into that position a lot when you're upset, you know that?" Anton couldn't help but comment. "Don't worry, we'll figure something out. Like McCarthy said, it doesn't matter what we decide to do as long as we keep it interesting."

"The curtain is going up in like ninety seconds, and you think that we'll be able to come up with something by that time?" Jack moaned hopelessly.

"All you gotta do is spit out the first interesting thing that comes into your mind! You're not a boring person, so you must have _something_, right? And get up off the floor before you embarrass the both of us."

Jack laughed humorlessly. "Heh. Right."

At that moment, Cody was coming back over, and behind him, Cici, with half of her feathers done, yelled something at him. He turned his head around and shouted back, "I'm putting it on later! That dress-robe thing isn't nearly as complicated as all the feathers covering your body, so I have time!"

Because he was still walking forward with his head turned, he ended up tripping over Jack, who was still drowning in his own misery, right after he said this.

And he landed right on top of the poor, unsuspecting Anton, who couldn't move out of the way in time.

Cici ended up witnessing this whole thing, and hurried over. "Oh my god, are you okay?! Jack, why are you—" She immediately shut up and covered her mouth with her hands once she got a closer look at what was going on, her cheeks slowly becoming red out of embarrassment.

"Hey, what's going on?" Spencer appeared, having noticed Cici's flustered look from afar. He followed her beeline, and almost immediately saw what was making her so uncomfortable. "...Oh."

"Why are all of us—" Zander also came over, paused, took one look at Cody and Anton, and burst out laughing.

Cody, finally getting over his shock, frantically picked himself up off the floor and began to vigorously wipe his mouth. "What the _fuck_! GAH!"

Anton slowly sat up, looking very, very traumatized. "My teeth hurt..."

"To hell with your teeth! Nobody cares about your teeth!" Cody shouted at him as he stormed off.

Jack got up off the floor, completely oblivious to what just happened. "Okay. I decided that you're right. We'll just wing it," he complied reluctantly. He grew slightly concerned when he saw Anton with a very uncomfortable look on his face. "Something the matter? You look like something bad just happened to you. Like _really_ bad, like you-accidentally-kissed-Cody kind of bad."

Anton stared at him in disbelief, then began exclaiming, "キスしただよ！アホか？！お前はバカ！バカ！アホなバカ！ゲホ！"

Jack blinked. "...Is that Japanese?"

Anton groaned and put a hand to his face. "Ugh, never mind. The curtain's going up any second now, so just...get ready..."

"Oh yeah. Sure."

Both of them walked off, leaving Zander, Spencer, and Cici awkwardly standing there. Cici held up her phone. "I took a photo of them," she admitted, breaking the silence.

Zander grinned like a maniac, while Spencer just looked at her in surprise. "That's totally wrong! You should delete that before either of them see it somehow," the latter advised.

"Ignore my killjoy of a brother, Cici," Zander smirked. "You really should keep that. For future blackmail use, I mean."

Cody came back. "Okay guys, I got back from rinsing my mouth out with mouthwash. What'd I miss?"

"Oh, nothing," Cici excused with an innocent look on her face, hiding her phone behind her back. "Just that the curtain's gone up, I think."

Cody went closer to the front, and raised an eyebrow when he heard Anton's voice go, "Jack likes Twilight!"

Snickering went on in the audience while Jack shot back, "HEY! I was only curious about it! Besides, I'm not the one who—"

Cody went back to where the others were before he could hear anymore. "Okay," he stated flatly. "Those morons are just exposing each other's secrets for their 'opening.' Who let them do that?"

Zander shrugged. "Beats me."

* * *

Zander put on the white wig that was part of his costume and looked in the mirror. He sighed and took it off again. _I'll just put my costume on later..._

He exited the bathroom where he had gone to change, and saw Cody sitting against the wall nearby while staring unblinkingly at something. He walked over and sat down beside him.

Cody stopped staring at whatever he found interesting and eyed Zander. "I thought you were gonna go change."

Zander shrugged. "Yeah, well... I changed my mind. Why aren't _you_ dressed?"

"In all honesty, I'd rather have nightmares for the rest of my life than put on that weird dress-robe thing." Cody turned his attention back to his previous distraction.

"What are you staring at?"

"Nothing that interesting," Cody dismissed. "Just your brother and his future girlfriend." He gestured towards Spencer, who was somewhat nervously helping Cici adjust her Tooth Fairy feathers.

Zander raised both eyebrows. "Why? You find them worth being stared at?"

"Not really, but there isn't much else to stare at," Cody answered, not even darting a glance at him. "I think it's best if I keep my mouth shut about the two of them. I don't want Spencer to get all dramatic again."

"So basically you're not a shipper?"

"Nah, not really." Cody brushed his bangs out of his face. "But then again, I don't ship anyone together, so nobody should be too bothered by it."

"How come?"

Cody looked at him again. "Uh, you know how my sister died. Also, I have never personally known anyone who has had a successful relationship. Need I say more?"

Zander paused. "You know, if they do end up making it, I will rub it in your face so hard, you'll feel like you just got a face full of sandpaper."

Cody rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Like I said, you shouldn't be too bothered by it."

"But what if you were the one who, you know...ended up liking a girl?" Zander asked.

Cody remained silent for a minute. "As much as I hate to do it, I guess I have to put on my dress-robe now," he finally said, abruptly changing the subject.

He got up and began walking away, and Zander protested after him, "Aw, come on! You can't just leave my question hanging like that!"

Cody stopped, then turned around. "Love is not real, at least not for me. It's just some sort of lust that's only there because someone feels lonely and wants what they call a soulmate. Besides, in the one in a billion possibility that I do end up liking someone, there's a zero percent chance that they'll like me back, all because I'm...well, me. So yeah, currently single, will be single forever, no matter if that's my intention or not, which it totally is."

Zander was obviously not expecting that type of answer. "But you're...not ugly..."

"...What?"

Zander stood up. "Look, I'm only saying 'not ugly' because any other term would make it seem like I'm turning homo for you. And I know love can't depend on just looks, but you know, shouldn't there at least be someone with a crush on you? Like how those Robinson triplets like Jack and all that."

"...I'm just good at making sure people don't like me." Cody looked away. "Can I just go now? Jack's gonna come here any second and I don't want him to get on my case for not being dressed yet." He looked at Zander again. "You should probably get into your costume too."

Zander cringed and rubbed his arm tentatively. "Uh, yeah, about that... I don't know, I feel like I don't deserve to have the lead role as Jack. After finding out who he really is, it just doesn't seem right anymore. Why should he watch me pretend to be him when he's missing the time when he was still a spirit? It's not fair to him. And I can't just give the role to him at the last minute."

Cody thought for a moment, then said, "Unless if something bad happened to you."

Zander stared at him, a little on edge. "...What are you getting at?"

Cody rolled his eyes. "Relax, I'm not gonna kill you and stuff your body in the dumpster in the back lot or anything like that. I have a plan, but I need you to go along with it."

* * *

"Ugh, I can't wait until all this is over," Jack sighed as he leaned against the wall wearily. "This is more exhausting than I thought it would be."

"Well yeah, you didn't really think it would be like a walk in the park, did you?" Anton pointed out. "Both of us have to keep the audience entertained, so of course it's gonna be stressful and tiring."

Jack had to admit to himself that Anton had a point. "I'm just gonna go see if Cody's put on his costume yet. The kid really doesn't want to wear that thing."

Anton nodded, but before Jack could even take one more step, he heard a loud yelp coming from further backstage. Recognizing it to be Zander's, he immediately rushed in the direction of the voice. He spotted Zander on the floor, with Cody next to him. Once he got closer, he saw that Zander was painfully grasping his bloodied left arm.

"What happened?" he demanded.

"Zander fell onto a prop," Cody answered cryptically.

Spencer and Cici had also hurried over, and the former was about to step forward to help his brother, but Cody shot him such a withering look that he got the point. Still, he kept his place nearby so he could be the first one at Zander's side if the injury turned out to be even worse than it looked.

"What prop?" Anton had followed Jack.

"Does it fucking matter?" Cody snapped. "The kid's hurt, don't you think we have to take care of him first before you ask anything?"

McCarthy had come over by now, and cautiously looked at Zander's seemingly injured arm. "You need to go to the infirmary. The nurse is in her office since she knows that all of us are here." She added, "You're not going to be able to be in the play."

"Yeah, I figured that much out," Zander muttered sullenly, getting up off the floor with Cody's help.

McCarthy turned to the others. "Do you have a prepared understudy?"

Jack had been shooting worried glances at Zander this whole time, and he didn't even turn when he replied, "No. None of us thought that something like this could happen."

"Wait, but Jack, don't you know our entire script by heart already?" Zander asked, still clutching onto his limb. "You know, since you were the one who typed it up in the first place."

Jack quickly caught on to what Zander was trying to get at. "Zander, I can't. I—"

"Not a bad idea," Cody agreed with Zander. "You know this play better than the rest of us do combined. If anyone's going to fill in for someone, it should be you."

McCarthy hesitantly nodded. "They're both right. I normally wouldn't allow this, but it seems that we have no choice. Jack, will you substitute for him?"

Jack opened his mouth to argue, but realizing that he had no other option, unsurely consented, "Alright..."

"Zander, will you be okay?" Spencer concernedly questioned his twin.

Zander smiled reassuringly. "I'll be fine." Thinking for a second, he then said, "Actually, on second thought, I need to talk to you, Cici, and Anton for a bit after I'm done getting this thing patched up. Do you mind?"

Spencer blinked, not understanding. "Um... No. Sure, we'll talk, I guess."

* * *

Jack left the bathroom stall and looked in the mirror, wanting to see how his costume looked on him. _Looks okay, except..._ He fixed the wig on his head a little, then smiled satisfactorily. _There._

"Hey."

Jack turned around and saw Zander in the doorway. "Oh hey." His eyes fixated on to his friend's sling. "Is your arm doing okay?"

Zander looked down at it, then simply shrugged and took his arm out. "It's doing great. I could live without the cast though."

Jack blinked in surprise. "Wait, so...your arm's not really...?"

Zander shook his head. "Nah. Nothing ever happened to it. It was all fake."

"...Why—"

"Because I didn't want to pretend to be someone when that someone is standing right there," Zander cut him off. "I'm not the one who used to be a winter spirit. And it's pretty obvious that you miss being one, so I, uh, decided to be considerate for once and hand my part over to you."

"...Oh." A thought hit Jack. "Wait, but how'd you get past the nurse? I mean, you went to the infirmary, didn't you?"

"Yeah, except we didn't actually go. Cody had stolen this sling from our box of props—we got the fake blood from there too—and once we were outside, he helped me put it on," Zander explained. "That's all."

"So Cody knew? All of them knew?"

Zander nodded. "Yeah, Cody knew. Nobody else did though. The two of us just finished explaining what really happened to them before I came here."

"Oh," Jack said again. "Well, uh... Thanks."

Zander smiled. "No problem. You deserve it anyway."

* * *

"But Zaaaaaaaandeeeeeeeeer!" Jack whined in a high voice. The play was over, and now they were all in the parking lot along with Jamie and Kayla.

"No means no, you moron!" Zander snapped at him. "I'm not giving you a piggyback ride all the way home! Why do I like you?!"

Jamie looked up at Spencer. "...How did this happen again?"

"He somehow inhaled some helium from one of the balloons and he just began acting like this," Spencer sighed as he rubbed his temple. "I didn't even know it was possible to get high from helium..."

"Hey, you two should kiss!" Jack grinned drunkenly, randomly pointing at Cody and Anton.

"In your fucking R-rated dreams..." Cody muttered. "I'm not going through that shit again."

Kayla's eyes lit up. "Again? You mean you two have kissed before?"

"Now look what you did," Anton mumbled toward Cody. "She's been getting into yaoi anime lately. She'll ship any pairing that's boy and boy now."

"Oh boy!" Kayla began excitedly. "First off, a new relationship blossoms, and then you two move in together, and eventually get _married_! Can I be the wedding planner? Ooh! I need to be one of the bridesmaids too!"

"What the fu—"

"Heeeeeeeyyyyyyy!" Jack slurred, cutting Cody off. "Anton! Have you been cheating on me? You're a dishonor among Japanese geishas! Fuck you in every knickerbocker glory hole! You're a moray eel!"

"You were the one who told me to kiss Cody only moments ago!" Anton shouted at him.

"What the hell is a knickerbocker glory hole?" Cody wondered aloud. "And I'm the only one who's allowed to say 'fuck you' to him."

Jack hurried over and attempted to aggressively thrust Anton in the testes, which he epically failed at because Anton was doing a fantastic job at keeping him and his sexual intentions away. "YOU JEALOUS~~~"

Spencer awkwardly looked away. "This is making me very uncomfortable..."

"Okay, if I give you a piggyback ride, will you stop trying to sexually harass him?" Zander gave in exasperatedly.

"Yes please!" Jack squealed out and practically hopped into Zander's arms. "Onward, Squidward Tentacles!"

"Do you have a thing for comparing people to marine life or something?!"

Meanwhile, up in the sky, a familiar blob lingered in the distance.

**I'm typing this while Julchen is working on a Snowflakes chapter involving her own experience pretending to be a ghost of a nun for fifteen minutes.**

**I know I promised to show you guys the play, but once it came down to it, I didn't know how to write it without despising it with the very core of my soul. So I decided to give you guys some behind-the-scenes action instead, and I hope this makes up for it. I'm sorry if anyone is disappointed. So yeah. Filler chapter, and the next one is when things get important.**

**Okay, time to be serious for a moment. I hate saying the same thing over and over again, and I'm sure you guys hate reading someone go on and on about something just as much, but there are people out there who still don't get it when I say, "Please do not beg me to update. I will UPDATE ON MY OWN TIME." I really don't want to name names, but if things are going to continue on at this rate, I'm afraid I'm going to have to call you out on it individually.**

**On a lighter note, who loves reading bad fanfiction? I'm talking like **_**really **_**bad, the kind that makes you want to set your screen on fire. If so, there's a new link at the bottom of my profile that leads to a page where me, Julchen, KokoLolo, and McVitie deeply analyze various bad fanfics. Don't worry, the only victims are going to be those stories that don't have proper spelling, capitalization, and just grammar in general. Oh yeah, and the plot reeks. We don't have too many fics on there yet, but we're hunting for them. I'm assuming you guys are at least decent writers anyway, so you don't have to worry. But anyway. Go visit it and give it a try. (Once you get there, I'm Mulan. That's my nickname)**

**Also, there is indeed a reason why Cody's lack of a love life comes up so much as a topic of conversation. It foreshadows what happens to him in the sequel ;)**

**Speaking of Cody, he's winning on my poll in a landslide. Not that I'm surprised, I mean he's my favorite one too.**

**feathered moon wings: Oh, don't worry, I totally get what you're trying to tell me. Yeah, I know it seemed a little...crackish...but I was in a really cracky mood and I couldn't help myself. Besides, I figured that the hilarity of it all would remind everyone that it isn't the climax just yet. I'm planning on having the confrontation with Immo much more serious. (By the way, is your name Abril? In other words, April in Spanish? If it is... *whispers* My name is also April)**

**PuppetMaster55: I felt the supreme urge to change my chapter title to that. The only thing stopping me was my promise to a couple other people that my title pattern would resume.**

**Lovepuppy316: Well yeah, that's partly the reason why he was in a maid dress. But the main inspiration for that is because I saw fan art of him in a maid dress, which turned into all three of them in maid dresses (I saw you brofisting with Julchen by the way). Also, Cody is badass. CODY IS BOSS.**

**Dude: Nah, you didn't cuss at me, and even if you did, I would've found it more amusing than offensive.**

**McVitie: LOLO'S READING IT BUT SHE WON'T TELL ME HOW MUCH SHE'S READ SO FAR GODDAMMIT LOLO And yes that was a DM2 reference. Congrats on being the only one who noticed. DON'T TELL ME TO GET OUT OF BED, VITIE.**

**Writeous: Of course you can call me that, darling. Wynter finally appeared too, so I hope you're happy. And you're right, that wasn't the climax. Only a few chapters left, which is a good thing because I want to hurry up and do the sequel already. Thank you for being patient, I love you :***

**Lolxxx: The word 'cumslut' comes from Julchen. It's not mine :P Anyway, since I forgot to say this last chapter, let me just add that as much as I want to see Cody as a cheap stripper, I don't think he's ever going to have the opportunity to show his stuff XD Fun fact: He's a good twerker though.**

**readandwrite4evernever: EVEN MORE CROUTON IN THIS CHAPTER. ARE YOU CHEERING. I AM CHEERING.**

**lotsofdrama: Um, I don't think I'll be able to answer your question without spoiling it for everybody. Sorry D:**

**Sol and G'syr: No, it's fine! You're not one of the people I was talking about in the note above, by the way :)**

**MadlyMagical: I promise the confrontation with Immo will be more climactic. And much more serious.**

**Cheri D: I don't think Cody smokes either :P **

**sparklyvampire: Ariel will appear again, don't worry about it.**

**Review~!**


	38. In Which Jack is Allergic to Helium

**So I forgot to say this last chapter, but what Anton was exclaiming in Japanese pretty much translates to: "WE DID KISS ARE YOU STUPID YOU'RE AN IDIOT YOU IDIOT YOU'RE A STUPID IDIOT YOU MORON."**

**Also, a little discontinuity error that I want to apologize for. Okay, so I said Jamie was there to watch the play last chapter, but apparently I had already said he was participating in it before many chapters ago. Oops. Oh my god, guys, this makes me feel so embarrassed... Sorry. I had completely forgot about that. So much stuff has happened in this story that even I forget some of it.**

"He's what?"

"Down with a headache," Spencer repeated himself, answering Anton's question. "Pretty bad one too."

"What caused it though?" Anton pressed on persistently. "I mean, he doesn't seem like the type to randomly get headaches from time to time. At least not when..." He glanced over at Cody, who only raised his eyebrows at him. "...anybody's fighting with each other."

"I'd bet anything that it had something to do with his high phase last night," Zander put in grumpily. "Helium is like his unique version of alcohol. He's having some variation of a hangover."

"That's some funky logic there," Cody remarked. "Just saying."

"Hey, it's either that or he got it when he suddenly passed out and hit his head on the ground halfway home," Zander deadpanned back. "And he would only get a headache from that if he had a concussion, and he didn't even hit it that hard. I'm sticking with my helium theory."

"Shouldn't we, like, visit him after school or something?" Spencer wondered. "I mean, just to check up on him and make sure he's...back to normal. We wouldn't want him to call Zander Squidward Tentacles again, would we?"

"You know, I'm still trying to figure out why he called me that," Zander muttered. "Do I resemble a Spongebob character to you guys? Don't answer that, by the way. But sure, I'll go see him."

"Yeah, me too," Anton agreed.

Cody kept quiet until he saw everyone else looking at him. "What? If I don't say no, them that means yes. I mean, I have better things to do than go visit idiots who tried to hump someone in the balls last night while drunk on helium, but you know what, I'm in a good mood, so I've ultimately decided to do all of you a favor and accompany you, therefore gracing you with my presence. I really don't care about how he's doing, and even though I'd rather do something else... I'm coming anyway," he finally said, looking away.

"You know, you could've just said yes without having to go into that," Zander stated knowingly.

"Yeah, and besides, you're making it really obvious that you really do care," Spencer added somewhat nervously, dearly hoping that Cody wasn't going to lash out at him for his contradiction (He still was a little scared of him).

Anton swore he saw Cody's cheeks turn a little pink. "No, I don't!" the latter snapped. "Do you think that I care about how he's doing even though he's most likely okay?! Yeah right, no way. But...I'll still go. And..." He must've felt his face growing warm, since he covered it with both hands. "...I'm heading to class." He walked off, still with his hands on his face.

Anton shook his head in mock disapproval. "Stubborn."

* * *

Jack settled himself down comfortably on the couch and turned on the TV (He figured that he should start watching after all), only to flip through the channels and discover that there wasn't anything on that he was even remotely interested in. He sighed and turned the television off again, just as Jamie entered through the front door.

"Hey," the younger boy greeted him. "How's your head?"

Jack shrugged. "Better than it was this morning," he answered. "How was school?"

"Nothing special. Oh yeah, and your friends decided to drop by."

A grinning Zander popped his head through the doorway. "Hey, what's up?"

"Oh." Jack blinked as the rest of them all made their way in. "Hey. What are you guys doing here?"

"No reason, we're just here. For the record, I'm only here because they made me," Cody said.

Anton shot him a look, offended. "Nobody made you! You came on your—" He stopped once Cody put both hands on his neck. He rolled his eyes but said nothing more, deciding that he'd rather be strangled another day.

"You two." Jack shook his head. "Anyway, Mrs. Bennett took me to the doctor to check up on the cause of my headache. Turns out that I'm allergic to helium and breathing even a little bit would cause me to behave strangely and then have a bad headache as an after effect."

Zander shot Cody a smug, triumphant look.

The amused smile on Jamie's face fell and he turned to Jack. "Oh yeah, I need to talk to you about something. Remember how you lied to my mom and said you were eventually moving into that house down the street?"

"Uh, yeah, I remember," Jack replied, a little surprised. Nobody, not even Mrs. Bennett, had brought it up for a little while, so he himself had let it slip his mind. Needless to say, he was taken aback by the sudden reminder of it from Jamie.

Jamie nodded somberly. "Yeah. Well, you know that realtor sign that's always standing in front of the house so people know it's for sale?"

"Yeah?" What Jamie was trying to get at couldn't be good, judging from his tone.

"You know how we pass by it while coming home from school and, um... It's sold." Jamie fiddled with his fingers uncomfortably. "Sorry."

Jack had a clearly lost expression on his face. "...What?"

"Somebody else is moving in, Jack."

"Oh yeah, I remember seeing seeing that too," Zander remarked. "Seems like a nice house—um, hey Jack, why are you screaming into your cushion?"

Jack stopped screaming and took the cushion away from his face, looking very panicky. "I... I told Mrs. Bennett that my family already bought that house but haven't properly moved in..."

All his friends only stared at him, letting this piece of information sink in. Cody broke the silence by exclaiming, "Why the fuck would you want to do that?!"

"I needed a backstory to why I just randomly showed up on her doorstep two months ago, okay?! How would've I known that I was unlucky enough to have somebody else buy the house before I got my powers back?!"

"Still shouldn't have taken that risk," Spencer argued. "It may have been better for you to just say that you were a distant friend of Jamie's and didn't have anywhere to stay for the time being. It's not very credible, but at least you wouldn't be freaking out about this problem right now."

"Oh, gee, then maybe I should just go over to Father Time and ask him to change that," Jack snapped caustically. "I doubt he would do that big of a favor for me, so no, that won't work."

"...We could kill the people who are moving in," Cody suggested. Once he saw everyone else's horrified expressions, he quickly added, "Kidding! I'm kidding! Mostly..."

"Right... Well, um... You know, maybe you should just tell Mrs. Bennett the truth about you," Anton advised. "You told us, didn't you?"

Jamie nodded. "I agree."

None of them thought this was possible, but Jack's look only grew more terrified. "What?! I can't do that!"

"Why not?"

"What if she ends up hating me for lying to her for so long and doesn't allow me to stay here anymore?!"

Jamie sighed. "Jack, you know my mom's not like that! I'm sure she won't kick you out of our house out of sheer anger. I mean, I'm not promising that she wouldn't be a little...shocked by this, but she won't hate you!"

"Dude, just do it," Zander said. "You're just being paranoid."

Jack was silent for a moment or two, but then gave in. "Fine... But can't I wait until she actually discovers it herself? I don't want to tell her anything if she isn't even suspecting me..."

"Chicken..." Zander mumbled.

"Hey!"

* * *

"Hi."

Jack slammed his locker door shut and glared hard at Ariel. "What?"

Ariel feigned a hurt expression. "Oh, Johnny, that hurts. Don't you want to see me?"

"I think it's perfectly clear that I don't want to see you, after I found out you were a deceiving slut. Just what do you want?"

Ariel simply ignored his question and remarked, "If this is how you treat women, it's no wonder why you're still single. Your attitude doesn't really match up with your looks."

Jack sighed in frustration. "Look, I don't have time for you, alright? The last thing I want to do is deal with your skanky crap. I've got too much on my plate right now, so just go away and leave me alone."

"Hey, what's going on?"

Jack turned around to see Zander. He pointed at Ariel, and stated, "Your ex is trying to screw with my head again."

Zander's eyes narrowed once he caught sight of Ariel. "Oh. It's you. I thought you were smarter than to try to victimize the same guy twice."

Ariel rolled her eyes scornfully. "Does it have anything to do with you?"

"You and I both know that it has very much to do with me."

"Do you really think that, or are you just trying to be a drama queen?"

"If anyone's a drama queen, it's you."

During this exchange, Zander had walked closer until he was face to face with Ariel while Jack stood by the sidelines. However, the latter decided that it was best if he stepped in before the spat escalated from mild retorts to a screaming match. "Zander, come on. We both have better things to do than this. Let's just go home."

Zander didn't stop scowling at Ariel, but agreed. He began walking in the other direction, and Jack was about to follow him until Ariel grabbed his shoulder, turned him around, and slammed her mouth right onto his. He stood frozen for a moment, but once he realized what was happening, he desperately tried to push her away, but Ariel proved to be stronger than she looked. After a few seconds, his protests ceased and his arms fell to his sides, suddenly feeling very weak and sluggish.

Zander must have noticed that Jack wasn't coming, because he turned back around, and once he saw what was going on, he immediately screamed, "What the _hell_!" He hurried over to them and pulled Jack away from Ariel. "What the hell was that?!"

Jack couldn't tell if that question was directed towards him or towards Ariel, but just in case it was for him, he began to stutter once he felt his energy returning to him, "I... I don't know... She just..."

Ariel only crossed her arms and glared at the both of them defiantly.

Zander shook his head. "Ugh, never mind," he said irritatedly. "Come on, let's go."

Once they were a safe distance away outside, Zander questioned again, "What exactly was that?"

"I don't know! She just grabbed me and kissed me! And then I started feeling all weird like my strength was leaving me! Not that I've ever been kissed before, but from what I heard, kisses don't do that! Or at least usual ones don't! Did you ever feel weird when you kissed her?"

"Heh. No. Mainly because we actually never kissed when we were dating," Zander said a little sheepishly. "But you're right, kisses don't do that, and I don't see why hers would be any different. Now that I think about it, you were turning a little pale when I saw her getting all over you, like you were about to pass out."

Jack rubbed the back of his head. "Well... She really caught me off guard... Maybe the shock just got to me?"

Zander stared at him disbelievingly. "And cause you to feel lifeless? Yeah, right, come on. You know that's not it."

"Whatever. Whatever it was, it's probably...nothing," Jack sighed. "Let's just go. I'm fine now, but I still feel a little exhausted."

Meanwhile, back inside the school building, Ariel had the faintest feeling that something was leaving her body, and she blinked, with absolutely no memory of what had occurred during the past few minutes.

**Short chapter. Deal with it. It's only a filler leading up to next chapter.**

**Also I will admit that the family moving into the newly sold house will have a major role in the sequel.**

**Replies: **

**SkyHighFan: I'm sorry, but I don't see why you're so upset about this, and I **_**really**_** don't see why you say it 'sets the story on fire.' The play isn't even remotely important in this story, so why? I can understand if you were disappointed by my backing out of my promise, but there's no need to slam me into the dust like that—I would've preferred it if you said it in a much nicer way. I didn't want to let you down, and I apologized for it. However, if you're still going to say stuff like this, I don't know why I even bother to say sorry.**

**Faliara: Nope, I've never read the books either, though I want to. Also, I heard that Jack was coming in a future book.**

**Writeous: Ooh, what's your OC headcanon of Cody? :O I'm curious, TELL ME. I love you to bits by the way (Let's see if you would end up being my thousandth reviewer, assuming I'd get that far ;))**

**McVitie: LOLO WON'T TELL ANYONE WHAT CHAPTER SHE'S ON. IS SHE EVEN STILL READING I DON'T KNOW. AND YES, THANK YOU FOR GETTING YOUR SIS TO READ THIS. I APPRECIATE IT A WHOLE LOT.**

**Lolxxx: Maybe sometime in the sequel ;P You're certainly the first one to say that you ship Zander/Jack XD That doesn't necessarily mean you're the only one though. Also, mind if I tell you something? Cody's lucky **_**lady**_** (extra emphasis on lady XD) happens to be the one moving into the newly sold house they were all talking about this chapter. Hazel Campbell is her name. Has a widowed father and a happy, little brother (Also, might I mention that she has a flat chest and Cody will tend to snark about it a lot)**

**Julchen M. Liddell: I love you for that review jesus christ**

**feathered moon wings: ...I read part of My Immortal. Me and my friends are planning to record a dramatic reading of it, by the way. (Also, take it from me. Anton liked kissing Cody) Also, Cody won't stay single for long. That's his whole subplot in the sequel ;) And I still need to figure out what I want to happen with Immo fml**

**Dee Dee: My favorite color is any shade of blue or purple. Why do you ask?**

**ZeroLuver567: We are actually going to record a dramatic reading of My Immortal and analyze it as we go along, haha. **


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